Collecting money people owe you is difficult enough, but when the person owing you is an ex, things can get pretty hairy.

After you break up with someone, you barely want to pass them on the street, let alone hound them for whatever money they still owe you.

Most of the time, its easier to just let bygones be bygones, and eat the financial loss for the sake of your mental health.

But for those among us with passion for pettiness, they will make sure they get back every penny, whatever way they can!

Take this user, whose terrible cheating ex owed him $800. When she refused to pay him back, he found an ingenious and hilarious way to trick her into paying through their cable bill!

Check it out!

Ex wouldn’t pay me back, so I made her pay via the bell bill.

Started dating at 15, moved in together at 18, and within 6 months of living together she cheated on me.

She owed me something like $800, for one months rent and for a vet bill I paid for.

We still lived together for 6 months after we broke up, cause despite me being able to move back home, she expected me to move out and also continue paying my portion of rent.

And as terrible as that living situation was, OP said paying his ex-girlfriend’s entire rent would have been either worse.

It sucked, but it sucked less than paying for her to have her own place. The tv/internet bill was in her name. We had cable. The fact that she owed me money was documented via email.

I very strategically sent many emails asking her to confirm that she was aware she owed me money, and how much.

I also asked if we could just deduct my portion of the cable bill from the debt she owed me.

On the second last month of our lease, she was hounding me for my portion of the internet/cable bill (about $30).

Wouldn’t take no for an answer and threatened to not pay and have it turned off. Had another roommate in school who needed it, so I paid my part.

But OP said she was barely even living in the apartment at this point!

By this time she was staying with the man she cheated on me with so she wasn’t really around ever.

For some reason when she moved all her stuff out, she left the cable box and wifi router. I guess assuming cause I was still paying for/using it.

I brought my own tv to use after her and her new boyfriend came in one day and took hers without saying anything, while I was actively watching it with a tinder hookup.

That was an awkward night.

And after his ex’s ridiculous behavior, OP knew he needed to find a way to get even.

I knew I was never getting my money back, so I had an idea. Buy every channel that exists, all extras I could buy just with the 4-digit pin.

Before this, I emailed her one last time saying something like “Just to confirm, my portion of this months bill will be subtracted from $X amount you owe to me, correct?”

And she agreed. These purchases began a week or two before I moved back in with my parents.

With the trap laid, OP decided to buy every channel his petty little heart desired.

I bought every channel individually, bought and rented movies, even started paying for pay per view porn cause I thought it was hilarious.

Kept track of everything I purchased and racked the bill up to almost exactly how much money she owed me, leaving a bit of space in case I miscalculated. About $750.

When she got the bill I was back with my parents. She came to my parents house bill in hand, my father answered the door.

Meekly stated something like “BBQingmaster spent so much on this bill, I can’t afford it” to which my father responded “use the money you owe to pay for it” and closed the door on her.

I was listening and out of sight. Whether or not she ended up having to pay, I’ll never know. But it felt good to do at the time.

Imagine getting scolded by your ex’s Dad, like you were a kid in high school! Good to see OP’s ex was treated as the child she was acting like!

Reddit loved his ingenious way of making sure his ex paid what she owed him, even if it was to the cable company. And this former cable employee assured OP that she would definitely have to pay!

This user said the accumulation of charges like these, even if they happened under natural circumstances, were exactly why people switch to streaming services.

Another user said even if she didn’t pay the bill, it would reflect in her credit score!

And finally, this user was reminded of his own story making a terrible ex pay financially.

Don’t do the crime if you can’t pay the absurdly high cable bill, people!

If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.