Cablevision box stolen - what to do!!!???

They will most likely be checking serial numbers on the equipment you turn in, so it will be obvious that you are returning something other then what you got.

They keep a careful inventory. It's the same thing that prevents you from buying a box and using it to use their service. I know when I swapped boxes with TWC, they took down the serial numbers on the new box and assigned them to my account.

If you send them a box off eBay, they'll probably just take it and still bill you for the cost of the box on your account, because until you either get the box back and turn it in or pay the cost, the box will still be on your account.

Do you have homeowner's insurance? Maybe that can offset the fee.

The process would be to check each piece of equipment because not only does it belong to the cable company it belongs to a certain region.

How exactly did you lose the original equipment?

Did you file a police report?

I would just eat the cost, then. Unless you can handle being harassed by collection agencies.

How inconvenient that you got FIOS at the same time Cablevision's equipment was stolen...

I was robbed, took all my cable equipment, but not my TVs or computers or other valuables...

No kidding!

If the stuff was in fact stolen, then this should've been your first step. Presentation of a police report to Cablevision may just be enough evidence to relinquish you of any financial liability.

This person posted here as well

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r199...len-what-to-do

I like how he keeps asking if people have tried it.

"Okay, I hear that it's a bad idea and that it probably won't work, but has anyone at least TRIED?"

and everyone including myself thinks he is trying to get something for free but trying to ask like he lost a cable box..

I mean how in the heck does someone just come in and steal your cable box?? that is one of the poorest excuses I've heard.

Then tries to swap it with a box from ebay thats pretty much already stolen.. lol..

DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON E=BAY!!!!!! The Cable companies have the capability to trace any converter in their system by looking up the serial number on the back of the box. If you buy a converter on e-bay, and call your cable company to get it hooked up, you have already wasted your money. Now, having said that, this summer, the cable companies were required by law to make avaliable converters that have card accesability. They complied, but they did it in such a way that it really changed nothing. The law was designed to make it so anyone could spend $500.00 or more on their own cable box, and recieve service from the cable company thru a service card that could be inserted into the converter you paid too much for at Best Buy in the first place. And if the converter you bought for too much money were to need service......

Right now, the best bet is to continue to rent from the Cable Companies. If the converter fails, you can have them come out and exchange it for no charge. That's just being smart. If your stuff was stolen, report it, along with a police report, to the cable company as soon as you can. If you are a customer in good standing, the cable company will work with you on this.

How do I know this to be true? Just trust me. I'm telling the truth.

Honest, they only stole my STB, not the HDTV it was connected to.

The real answer was given on dslreports.

A box purchased from Ebay won't get you free cable.

yeah yeah officer..yeah they only took my cable box and cable modem...thats it, they left my brand new lcd...perhaps they are plasma snobs..damn gamers!

working for the local cable co. here in orlando,i can safely say that they will not accept anything other than the eq. issued to you.they have the sn's to everything as well as the MAC addresses the date you received it,the tech that installed it and so on.feel lucky they only want 500 something.here it would be over a grand.