Splitting bills with other people may seem like a good idea on paper.
Who doesn't love to save money?
And splitting bills can save people a ton.
The problem is, oftentimes, some people don't honor the payment agreement.
This leads to tons of trouble.
Redditor Recent_Chemical_3231 wanted to share her experience and get feedback, so she came to the "Am I The A**hole" (AITA) subreddit.
She asked:
"AITA for changing the WiFi name and password so my neighbors can’t use it anymore?"
The Original Poster (OP) explained:
"I am a 26-year-old F[emale] living in a complex apartment with my 29-year-old fiancé."
"We’ve been living here for 3 years, and everything has been going great."
"Unfortunately, our internet started constantly failing, so we had to upgrade our plan."
"After the upgrade, we had to get a new password because it was required whenever you upgraded."
"That’s when my 50-year-old male neighbor asked if we could start sharing the internet and split the cost."
"I agreed because there were three people and there were two of us, so I thought it was fair."
"For the first and second month, they paid on time. "
"After that, they started paying on and off, but I didn’t really mind because the internet wasn’t that good anyway."
"After about six months of having constant internet problems and basically no improvement in the connection, I decided to change providers to a better and more expensive one."
"As soon as the old internet was disconnected, I received a text from my neighbour’s 20-year-old daughter..."
“'Hi there! I hope all is well. This is… your next-door neighbor! I just wanted to ask if everything is okay with the WiFi. I see that it has not shown up or has been changed for quite some time now. Maybe my dad misunderstood you, and there was a mishap with the communication regarding the payment.'"
"'I was wondering if we would be able to split the monthly payment again, as I am also home alone and have no way of communicating with my parents or using my phone day to day (data is quite expensive if used daily). My dad is not at home at the moment but can and will pay you as soon as he is home tomorrow, if that is alright.'"
"'Thank you so much. Have a wonderful evening”
"I replied... 'Hi …, I hope you’re doing well. Yes, the old WiFi wasn’t working well, so we got a new one from...'”
"Since May of this year, they have only paid twice towards the new internet. It is now October."
"So, on October 1st, I decided to change the WiFi name and password, which automatically disconnected their phones and devices."
"About two hours later, the 50-year-old man came to my door with his wallet in his hand, asking how much they owed and whether they could pay me right then because the internet wasn’t working."
"I knew exactly why the internet wasn’t working for them."
"I simply replied, 'Yeah, I know. We haven’t paid it yet, so the provider shut it down. I’ll let you know how much you owe.'”
"It has now been two days, and I haven’t gotten back to him."
"Honestly, I don’t intend to."
"If they had been honest and said, 'Look, we can’t afford it right now, but we really need the internet,' that would be one thing."
"What pisses me off is that we had a verbal/written agreement, and they simply didn’t honor it."
"They continued using the internet knowing that they hadn’t paid their share."
The OP was left to wonder:
"So now I’m wondering: AITA for changing the WiFi name and password and cutting them off?"
Redditors shared their thoughts on this matter and weighed in on some options to the question, AITA:
- NTA – Not The A**hole
- YTA – You're The A**hole
- NAH – No A**holes Here
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
- INFO - More Information Needed
Many Redditors declared that OP was NOT the A**hole.
"NTA for that, but YTA for how you handled it."
"I'd at least have had a conversation when they missed the first payment, and then after that, you could have just said, 'Hey, sorry, it's not working out. If you want internet, you'll have to pay for it yourself,' then changed the network." ~ JackTradesMasterNone
"I don't think they handled it too badly."
"Yeah, a bit of a d*ck move, but once the neighbors stopped paying after month one, then two, then they find out they have no internet in October."
"It's kind of safe to assume that if you stop paying for the service, that the service will end."
"That's kind of how things work."
"A 50-year-old man should be able to figure this out and purchase his own internet service." ~ ApprehensiveCut9809
"Hard disagree with this assessment."
"Original agreement was something OP never should have agreed to, but anything that happened after months of no payment is the neighbor’s fault."
"Suggesting that OP needed to handle it with more grace is wild."
"The neighbor knowingly took advantage, then came crying when the consequences of their actions caught up to them."
"NTA IN ANY WAY." ~ Tuna5150
"Just saying it is possible that your second internet sucked because your neighbor connecting all his household’s devices to your wifi slowed your devices down."
"Maybe even your first since the neighbor approached you immediately after you changed passwords (probably locking him out)." ~ DogsNCoffeeAddict
"NTA, and it is also a terrible idea to split your internet with anyone except your immediate family."
"Anything that is accessed or downloaded is your legal liability."
"Also, you have no way of knowing who these people are giving the internet to."
"I don't feel a need to subsidize internet for neighbors."
"Most phones can act as a hotspot for Wifi - my iPhone does this, and I have used it a few times when my Wifi from my ISP is out for a bit."
"ETA, I think if someone has your Wifi password and access, it is much easier for them to hack your computer data." ~ Jujulabee
"Are people really this passive?"
"A text the day the payment is past-due: 'Sorry, you've missed the wifi payment; you are removed from permissions."
"2nd failure to pay on time will void our agreement."
"The bill is due when it is due."
"Your neighbor is a cheapskate, and you need to stop being a doormat."
"NTA, but I'm so annoyed at OP." ~ desertboots
"NTA. Also, your internet might have sucked because you were sharing it."
"Internet bandwidth is like a pie."
"The more people you're sharing it with, the smaller you have to cut the slices."
"It sounds like you have no idea what they were doing with it, or how much of it they might have been utilizing at any given time." ~ Korrin
"NTA, I've been there, done that with a similar situation."
"I lived in the downstairs apartment of a duplex with an ex that gave the password to the upstairs neighbor."
"I didn't mind at all; she was a single mom with 3 kids."
"We hardly noticed a difference in speed at first, but it would be worse at times."
"My ex did talk to her, and she assured him that it was only a computer, Xbox, and her phone connected."
"My ex and I ended the relationship; it was mutual on very good terms."
"After he moved out, I noticed my internet slowly getting worse."
"I got into the wifi router and noticed 13 devices connected, 9 of which weren't mine."
"I changed the password immediately, and my internet problems stopped."
"By that time, she had already turned into an awful neighbor, so I didn't feel bad in the least." ~ LittleMissRawr78
"NTA. You were beyond nice letting them use it for free for several months, and even for agreeing to split it in the first place, although I wouldn't have advised that."
"The fact that they only came to you with an offer of payment after they were disconnected feels ingenious."
"I honestly wonder what their reaction would have been if you had tallied the amount of the last several months, or if he was just expecting to split it again going forward for however long he decided to pay."
"Some routers have the ability to hide the broadcast signal, so wifi searches from devices not connected to it simply cannot see it."
"I'd see if yours has this ability.
It sucks when we misjudge someone's character, more so when it is to our detriment. "
"Chalk it up to a learning experience." ~ raya_sun
"That is absolutely insane to even allow a neighbor that isn’t your immediate family to share your WiFi information to supply their household with a network."
"Being on the same network as someone else, they have access to everything in your house."
"They can see all of your appliances, TVs, printers, phones, if you have a smart door lock, your wifi cameras, anything connected to that network".
"If it were anyone who knew what they were doing, they could have done some malicious stuff without you even knowing." ~ WILD__CARD
"This is stupid."
"If you can sign up for different providers, so can they."
"Let them have their own Internet service."
"You are opening yourself up to all kinds of liability by sharing service."
"What if they download illegal torrents?"
"What if they download C[ompatibility] S[upport] M[odule]?"
"Don’t do that to yourself. NTA" ~ IolausTelcontar
"NTA. You’re not their I[nternet] S[ervice] P[rovider] , you’re their neighbor."
"They stopped paying consistently months ago, so changing the password and ending the arrangement is completely reasonable."
"And honestly, you don’t even need to tell them what they owe."
"You can just tell them the Wi-Fi is no longer being shared." ~ MildMeringue
"NTA. They broke the agreement, and thus it is void. It's unfortunate, but an easily preventable problem had they taken the time to speak with OP."
"Instead, they just stopped paying and hoped that OP would continue supporting their family." ~ Beanz4ever
Reddit is with you, OP.
Your neighbors can get their own internet.
You were more than generous trying to help them out.
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