Not paying does not absolve you of your contractual obligations though.
I had a service that I just stopped paying for once, assuming that they'd cancel my account when the money stopped coming. False - they kept billing me then sold my "debt" to a debt-collection firm who called me at work etc.
When I was young I learned this the very hard way. I moved. Called to cancel my cable service. Person said no problem, box up modem and leave it outside. I did that.
Never thought of it again for 4-5 years until I was trying to rent a place in my own name. Yep, the retention specialist 5 years ago met his numbers by NOT cancelling me out. So I had something like an extra 12 months of charges plus modem cost plus a credit hit.
Because I really need this place to live in (3 others were depending on it/me) I ended up coughing up a ton of money. Lessons learned.
I had a service that I just stopped paying for once, assuming that they'd cancel my account when the money stopped coming. False - they kept billing me then sold my "debt" to a debt-collection firm who called me at work etc.