Money Moral Dilemma: I bought a second-hand TV - should I use previous owner's streaming services?

retired19

No you shouldn't do it. It's fraudulent and could also cause problems to the original owner who kindly donated the TV to raise money for the charity. You know that it's wrong or you wouldn't be asking others to approve it. 
There's no reason why you can't subscribe to the free ones yourself directly as you say only some are paid for. 
It's a lesson though for anyone who is donating or disposing of electronic equipment return it to manufacturers settings and delete anything you have installed or you could be accused of allowing unauthorized persons to access services,or worse have your passwords/Id stolen 

RumRat

brionyrose said:

Obviously it's wrong. Same as if you used anything else that belonged to someone, without their knowledge or permission. It wasn't a bundle deal when you bought the telly - it was presumably an honest mistake and they shouldn't be made to suffer for it.

Suffer?? Because in a broken world someone is watching a film on their Netflix account??  Think you might need a little perspective here...

ripongrammargirl

Morally wrong and you know this or you would not be asking. Think of anything that you own and somebody took it, eg goods from the milkman, would you be happy if someone took it because it was there on your doorstep? It is also fraudulent as many also say. I would inform the charity shop as they may have contact details for the donor to let them know it is still active and also inform the relevant companies. Don’t be tempted into joining the many criminals in this once great country.

bikaga

You're taking advantage of someone with poor digital skills - how would you feel if that was your older relative and someone would use their account without contributing? 

Ictmims

If the service is available, and no additional charges for viewing go to the previous owner, I would use the service like I do the YouTube APP. (Always assuming a TV licence is not required). I find TV a non-starter. Don't have a licence or watch live or i-player. On the odd occasion at friends or in a hotel, I have seen what is available, it puts me off TV, and ridiculous salaries (?) for presenters make a mockery of the 'service'. The beeb licence should be around £40 a year. Just two TV channels, and the four national radio channels. Any more, make it pay per view or some other subscription.

JennyC89

Obviously it’s wrong, we all know that. But is it morally wrong? If it had zero impact on the account owner I’d still do it, the reason in this case that I wouldn’t is because you’d mess their algorithm up 😂 I like my algorithm and would be annoyed to lose it! You can’t set up your own profile because they will see it. I’d say if there’s a film you’ve been going to see, be cheeky and watch it, but no, don’t use it freely. 

keithyno.1

SiliconChip said:

If this is a question by a real person why can't they sign on to the forum and ask it themselves rather than having it given a pseudo-official status by MSE? The answer, of course, is that as always the question has a blindingly obvious moral answer that doesn't take any thought at all to give and is just a waste of everybody's time. 

But surely that's the whole point of the Money Moral Dilemma feature in the weekly MSE email, to encourage debate and sharing of different ideas and viewpoints?

Because really there's no such thing as a "blindingly obvious moral answer." Morals are completely subjective and differ from person to person unlike, say, the law of the land which is laid down in statutes as a result of the democratic process (well, in theory anyway) and which we're all expected to follow.

What is morally right or wrong to you could be quite different to the next person - in many cases it boils down to opinion and a person's own conscience. So let's keep these debates going here.

Bonnypitlad

I’m a bit of a Luddite and don’t understand all this technical stuff 
Is it similar to watching TV without a TV license?....Scandalous Behaviour!
You Lucky Beggar 

_nate

It's very hard these days to tell, on a smart TV, what is for free, what is a subscription service, and what is a free trial. However, under no circumstances should anyone charge anything to anyone else's account without authorisation.

CapeTown

When I got divorced,  I took the smart television because my ex husband was moving abroad. He had installed Netflix. I hadn't really watched it before as it was used by the children. Anyway I started to use it. However it notes what you have been watching and if I was watching, he couldn't as it was one person access. He realised this and changed the password pretty quickly. Probably didn't help that I changed his new "wife" (not what I really call her!) User name to something offensive!