As someone said below, your example is just a manipulative person taking advantage of an easily manipulated person. A guy who is continually paying for dinners/outings and answering phone calls at odd hours when he's perfectly capable of ignoring a call and going back to sleep etc. all while not receiving any indication that the girl has any intention of romantic affection or sex has himself to blame for not putting his foot down and saying no.

The so-called friend zone occurs when a guy and a girl have a platonic relationship that the guy wishes would go further and cross into a romantic relationship, but it never does. He never asks for clarification or when he does and is rebuffed he takes it poorly, laments that he's been put in the friend zone and often has feelings of resentment for the girl for not reciprocating his feelings because he never wanted their relationship to be platonic.

Now if he handles it maturely, accepts that you can't force someone to feel romantic feelings for someone they aren't attracted to or somehow coax those feelings out of someone by acting like he cares for her feelings and devoting his efforts to listening to her problems then that is good. But when he throws a tantrum and sulks about being friend zoned when friendliness (without any explicit romantic actions) had been exactly the extent of their relationship he has no one to blame but himself and needs to grow up and move on. The girl didn't do anything wrong. If the guy didn't ask her out or attempt to clarify that he had romantic feelings for her, but finally gets shot down after a long period of supposed friendship and he feels taken advantage of, that is absurd. These guys AREN'T the ones who have let themselves be taken advantage of through requests for free dinners or drinks or other things that cost money. But they feel like they've been cheated out of the TIME they've spent letting her share her problems and listening or existing in her life as a non-sexual, non-romantic presence. That's pretty childish and immature and shows that they were never really her friend to begin with. They just think that her thinking he is a good listener or a stable, platonic/friendly presence in her life makes her indebted to him. Bullshit. Take it as a lesson and grow the fuck up.