das Monkey?
01-07-04, 04:22 PM
#1
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das Monkey?
Man says he’s addicted to cable; wants to sue Charter
By Lee Reinsch
the reporter [email protected]
Cable TV made a West Bend man addicted to TV, caused his wife to be overweight and his kids to be lazy, he says.
And he’s threatening to sue the cable company.
Timothy Dumouchel of West Bend wants $5,000 or three computers, and a lifetime supply of free Internet service from Charter Communications to settle what he says will be a small claims suit.
Dumouchel blames Charter for his TV addiction, his wife’s 50-pound weight gain and his children’s being “lazy channel surfers,” according to a Fond du Lac police report.
Charter employees called police to the local office at 165 Knight’s Way the evening of Dec. 23 after Dumouchel showed up with a small claims complaint, reportedly intimidated an employee and made “low-level threats” to employees’ safety, according to a police report.
The report states Dumouchel gave an employee five minutes to get a supervisor to talk to him or their next contact would be “in the ocean with the sharks.”
According to the report, Dumouchel told Charter employees he plans to sue because his cable connection remained intact four years after he tried to get it canceled.
The result was that he and his family got free cable from August of 1999 to Dec. 23, 2003.
“I believe that the reason I smoke and drink every day and my wife is overweight is because we watched TV every day for the last four years,” Dumouchel stated in a written complaint against the company, included in a Fond du Lac police report.
“But the reason I am suing Charter is they did not let me make a decision as to what was best for myself and my family and (they have been) keeping cable (coming) into my home for four years after I asked them to turn it off.”
According to the police report, Dumouchel called Charter to stop his cable service in August of 1999 and was taken off the billing but not the cable service.
In a written statement, he said he put the family TV in the basement in 1999 after he had called to get cable disconnected, but soon thereafter, his wife had moved it back and hooked up the cable connection, and it still worked.
He stated he “made a deal” with her that “she could watch TV as long as the cable worked.”
He then went back to Charter and asked that they disconnect his service, which they reportedly never did.
He stated that he called Charter several times to get the service disconnected for good because he felt it was addictive, according to the report.
Charter’s director of government and public relations for eastern Wisconsin, John Miller, says he doesn’t take the threat of a lawsuit seriously.
“Even though we consider our services to be a very powerful entertainment product, I don’t think it’s reached a medical level yet where it could be proved to be addictive,” Miller said.
“In our society, any kind of legal action shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone,” he added.
Wisconsin Circuit Court records show no civil lawsuit papers filed in Dumouchel’s name.
http://www.wisinfo.com/thereporter/n...14044768.shtml
By Lee Reinsch
the reporter [email protected]
Cable TV made a West Bend man addicted to TV, caused his wife to be overweight and his kids to be lazy, he says.
And he’s threatening to sue the cable company.
Timothy Dumouchel of West Bend wants $5,000 or three computers, and a lifetime supply of free Internet service from Charter Communications to settle what he says will be a small claims suit.
Dumouchel blames Charter for his TV addiction, his wife’s 50-pound weight gain and his children’s being “lazy channel surfers,” according to a Fond du Lac police report.
Charter employees called police to the local office at 165 Knight’s Way the evening of Dec. 23 after Dumouchel showed up with a small claims complaint, reportedly intimidated an employee and made “low-level threats” to employees’ safety, according to a police report.
The report states Dumouchel gave an employee five minutes to get a supervisor to talk to him or their next contact would be “in the ocean with the sharks.”
According to the report, Dumouchel told Charter employees he plans to sue because his cable connection remained intact four years after he tried to get it canceled.
The result was that he and his family got free cable from August of 1999 to Dec. 23, 2003.
“I believe that the reason I smoke and drink every day and my wife is overweight is because we watched TV every day for the last four years,” Dumouchel stated in a written complaint against the company, included in a Fond du Lac police report.
“But the reason I am suing Charter is they did not let me make a decision as to what was best for myself and my family and (they have been) keeping cable (coming) into my home for four years after I asked them to turn it off.”
According to the police report, Dumouchel called Charter to stop his cable service in August of 1999 and was taken off the billing but not the cable service.
In a written statement, he said he put the family TV in the basement in 1999 after he had called to get cable disconnected, but soon thereafter, his wife had moved it back and hooked up the cable connection, and it still worked.
He stated he “made a deal” with her that “she could watch TV as long as the cable worked.”
He then went back to Charter and asked that they disconnect his service, which they reportedly never did.
He stated that he called Charter several times to get the service disconnected for good because he felt it was addictive, according to the report.
Charter’s director of government and public relations for eastern Wisconsin, John Miller, says he doesn’t take the threat of a lawsuit seriously.
“Even though we consider our services to be a very powerful entertainment product, I don’t think it’s reached a medical level yet where it could be proved to be addictive,” Miller said.
“In our society, any kind of legal action shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone,” he added.
Wisconsin Circuit Court records show no civil lawsuit papers filed in Dumouchel’s name.
http://www.wisinfo.com/thereporter/n...14044768.shtml
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01-07-04, 04:45 PM
#7
DVD Talk Hero
"TV Talk das" wouldn't be caught dead with cable, would never ask to "turn it off," and only makes "high-level" threats.
"Otter das" thinks lack of personal responsibility is the biggest threat to this country and is frequently sickened by such nonsense.
"Real-life das" hopes he gets his $5,000 and free Internet quickly, or you'll all be in the ocean with sharks!!!
das
P.S. My kids are not lazy channel surfers; they are highly active channel surfers!
"Otter das" thinks lack of personal responsibility is the biggest threat to this country and is frequently sickened by such nonsense.
"Real-life das" hopes he gets his $5,000 and free Internet quickly, or you'll all be in the ocean with sharks!!!
das
P.S. My kids are not lazy channel surfers; they are highly active channel surfers!
Last edited by das Monkey; 01-07-04 at 04:50 PM.
01-08-04, 12:02 PM
#11
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
I hope they countersue him to pay for the 4 years of free cable. Just the fact that the guy is taking this to small claims court made me think maybe he was doing this as a joke, but it seems unlikely that anyone would bring up his wife gaining 50 pounds in a court case unless he was deadly serious about it
01-08-04, 12:22 PM
#12
DVD Talk Legend
Also, when your domain registration runs out in a couple months, any thoughts to getting www.dasmonkey.tv?
01-12-04, 12:39 AM
#15
DVD Talk Reviewer
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: WAS looking for My Own Private Stuckeyville, but stuck in Liberty City (while missing Vice City)
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Sigh. das makes the news again...
Names have been changed to protect das..err..."Phil"
Everything You Love Might Ruin Your Life
January 11, 2004 -- Phil has an addiction, but it's not to alcohol, cigarettes or cocaine. "TiVo is my drug of choice," says the 40-year-old Astoria resident and business owner.
Phil got his first TiVo as a birthday present two years ago. In time, he got two more digital video recorders, and saved every show he could, sometimes recording between eight and 12 hours of programming a day.
"I always liked TV, but TiVo just put it into hyperspeed," he says.
Phil could barely stay awake at work after watching recorded programs until 4 a.m. "It got to the point where I was putting personal things on hold to watch stuff I taped last week," he said.
Phil reached the breaking point three months ago.
"My girlfriend pulled the plug on the TiVo one day and I went berserk," he said.
One day screamed at him. "It's just a box that has you in its grasp!" she told him. "You're out of control!"
David has an equally paralyzing addiction. The 34-year-old struggling actor from Astoria says he sometimes stays up until 3 a.m. playing Scrabble online.
"Whenever I lose a game," he says, "I have to win two more."
Such obsessions are what author and "life coach" Judith Wright calls a "soft addiction."
"They are seemingly harmless habits, like shopping or using the Internet, that we misuse - and they keep us from living our lives," says Wright, author of "There Must Be More Than This: Finding More Life, Love, and Meaning by Overcoming Your Soft Addictions" (Broadway Books; $14.00).
Even noble activities, like housecleaning and reading, can be problems when done to excess.
"You know if it's a soft addiction when you zone out or use it to avoid things," she says.
Brian Laperriere, who works in the high-tech sector in Monmouth County, N.J., says he realized his soft addiction to food one day at the office when he didn't want to make a particularly stressful phone call.
"I grabbed a handful of change and went to the vending machine," he says. "And it hit me - I'm eating so I don't have to make this call."
Laperriere says he's now looking at other possible addictions in his life.
"Sometimes I think I read too much when I could be talking to my wife or playing with my kids," he says.
But Wright cautions that not all pastimes should be read as inherently problematic.
"If you're doing something and you get a buzz from it or it makes you zone out, that's probably a soft addiction," she says.
"If you're learning and growing and feeling more awake, more conscious, more connected, that's a hobby or a passion."
January 11, 2004 -- Phil has an addiction, but it's not to alcohol, cigarettes or cocaine. "TiVo is my drug of choice," says the 40-year-old Astoria resident and business owner.
Phil got his first TiVo as a birthday present two years ago. In time, he got two more digital video recorders, and saved every show he could, sometimes recording between eight and 12 hours of programming a day.
"I always liked TV, but TiVo just put it into hyperspeed," he says.
Phil could barely stay awake at work after watching recorded programs until 4 a.m. "It got to the point where I was putting personal things on hold to watch stuff I taped last week," he said.
Phil reached the breaking point three months ago.
"My girlfriend pulled the plug on the TiVo one day and I went berserk," he said.
One day screamed at him. "It's just a box that has you in its grasp!" she told him. "You're out of control!"
David has an equally paralyzing addiction. The 34-year-old struggling actor from Astoria says he sometimes stays up until 3 a.m. playing Scrabble online.
"Whenever I lose a game," he says, "I have to win two more."
Such obsessions are what author and "life coach" Judith Wright calls a "soft addiction."
"They are seemingly harmless habits, like shopping or using the Internet, that we misuse - and they keep us from living our lives," says Wright, author of "There Must Be More Than This: Finding More Life, Love, and Meaning by Overcoming Your Soft Addictions" (Broadway Books; $14.00).
Even noble activities, like housecleaning and reading, can be problems when done to excess.
"You know if it's a soft addiction when you zone out or use it to avoid things," she says.
Brian Laperriere, who works in the high-tech sector in Monmouth County, N.J., says he realized his soft addiction to food one day at the office when he didn't want to make a particularly stressful phone call.
"I grabbed a handful of change and went to the vending machine," he says. "And it hit me - I'm eating so I don't have to make this call."
Laperriere says he's now looking at other possible addictions in his life.
"Sometimes I think I read too much when I could be talking to my wife or playing with my kids," he says.
But Wright cautions that not all pastimes should be read as inherently problematic.
"If you're doing something and you get a buzz from it or it makes you zone out, that's probably a soft addiction," she says.
"If you're learning and growing and feeling more awake, more conscious, more connected, that's a hobby or a passion."
01-12-04, 01:33 PM
#17
DVD Talk Legend
Re: das Monkey?
Timothy Dumouchel of West Bend wants $5,000 or three computers, and a lifetime supply of free Internet service from Charter Communications to settle what he says will be a small claims suit.
Dumouchel blames Charter for his TV addiction, his wife’s 50-pound weight gain and his children’s being “lazy channel surfers,” according to a Fond du Lac police report.
