SAGINAW, Mich. -- It was a cable television deal too good to be true and now some thumb-area residents have had the plug pulled on their service.

WNEM TV5 was contacted by some of these customers after their cable TV service was yanked just months after signing up.

“Just before Christmas, everything went pfffttt, boom, blank,” said former customer Larry Patterson, from Fairgrove, Mich.

Patterson lives in the thumb where there is no cable television service.

So when a salesman knocked on his door last October and pitched Cablemax Communications, he signed up.

The packaged included 41 stations for $24.95 per month.

Patterson said he paid $65 cash for installation and the first month of service.

Patterson said the first week of service was great but as he entered week two, “We started losing our premium channels,” he said.

Patterson said it seemed each week he was losing more channels, until the service ended this month. He called the company to see what the deal was but only discovered the phone number had been disconnected.

TV5 went to the Better Business Bureau Web page and found Cablemax Communications receives an “F” from the consumer agency.

According to the Better Business Bureau, the company’s address is a post office box in Kalkaska, Mich.

TV5 did track down the contractor who installed Patterson’s cable service.

He did not want to be identified, but said he is owed a few thousand dollars by Cablemax.

He said he believes between 1,500 and 2,000 households in the thumb-area were ripped off by the company.

He also thinks Cablemax was retransmitting signals from DISH Network TV.

“The aggravation itself was worth more than $65,” said Patterson. “Then I had to pay to get into this other company.”

The other company is a satellite television service that Patterson recently signed up with.

He hopes justice will come to the company who took his money and then signed off the air.

“It’s sad,” said Patterson. “I don’t know if this guy’s a scammer or what. All I know is I got ripped.”

TV5 did learn the owner of Cablemax Communications is a man named Mike Wesley.

TV5 contacted state attorney general Mike Cox to find out if his office is looking into Cablemax’s business practices.

Stay with WNEM.com and TV5 as more information comes out on this story.