Cancelling a cell phone Agreement/contract?

[Lola]

We have sprint pcs and we got a notice in the mail with our bill saying

Effective Oct. 1, 2006, Sprint will charge $0.15 per message for casual domestic and international text messages sent or received.

I wanted to find a way to get out of a contract with sprint anyways because of the amount they are charging and the crappy phone i have...

now, i don't use this service(txt msg) a lot, but on fatwallet they are saying people have cancelled because of this without an Early Termination Fee because of what it says in sprints own terms and agreement:

If we change a material term of the Agreement and that change has a material adverse effect on you, you may terminate the Agreement without an early termination fee by calling 1-888-211-4727 within 30 days after

Every person i speak with is trying to give me a run around with terminating the contract when i know i can.

One person even said that because i do not use this service a lot, it does not apply to me. WTF?!

So, has anyone ever cancelled a contract without paying the fee?
If so, what did you say to the cell phone co?
I need some advice! thank you!

 

[dmcowen674]

Contracts are Bullshit and I would do everything in my power to get rid of them.

By the way, pay them in pennies.

 

[Whisper]

I remember a sprint rep contacting me about "plan changes" and what not...and this particular issue came up, of course, at the very end when they tried to offer me the (I believe) $15/month unlimited texting option.

I let them know that my current contract grants me unlimited texting for $5/month until february, and so I will be keeping my contract in place until then, at which time I'll cancel it.

 

[iamwiz82]

It'd be nice to have a cellphone that actually worked well at our home. It seems like T-Mobile and Sprint both are blackholes in the area, for whatever reason. The second I move to roaming it works beautifully.

 

[Lola]

Thanks.
ALSO....
i have another question:

What would be the best way to go about switching from SprintPCS to Cingular and transfering our phone numbers?

I know that if i cancel the sprint contract first, they cannot transfer the number from one co. to the other.

What is a good way to do that?

 

[Atrail]

Well if it went to court you would have to show how the change in the terms had a material adverse effect on you. If you do not use that service I do not see how you could show this...

 

[anxi80]

you should be able to granted you havent paid your sprint bill yet this month.

link

 

[Turin39789]

Originally posted by: Atrail
Well if it went to court you would have to show how the change in the terms had a material adverse effect on you. If you do not use that service I do not see how you could show this...

so send a single text message, and now it does.

 

[Lola]

Originally posted by: Turin39789

Originally posted by: Atrail
Well if it went to court you would have to show how the change in the terms had a material adverse effect on you. If you do not use that service I do not see how you could show this...

so send a single text message, and now it does.

if i do that, that will show that i accept the new rates.

 

[yllus]

Lola, couple of options.

Down here we routinely have one cell phone company offer to buy us out of a contract with a competing cell phone company. Check out that angle - contact the sales department at a rival to Sprint.

To cancel out of that contract, might want to call again and get a new person on the phone. Ask to be escalated immediately to a senior support representative because although you've been a loyal customer for X years you're now being treated terribly and are getting no help from the various reps you've already talked to. They'll want a tiny glimpse of what the problem is so they can warn their senior about the incoming problem, so keep it short and say it's a contract problem / messed up contract. Try not to elaborate any more.

Material adverse effect is customer-dependent, and all you really need to say is that you'll be ramping up text message use in the future because, oh, your husband is going to be working overseas for the next 12 months. Or that you're planning on keeping up to date with your sister via that method and don't want to get dinged for incoming messages.

You should be able to push through. I get the distinct impression you're too nice about getting stuff like this done.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
It'd be nice to have a cellphone that actually worked well at our home. It seems like T-Mobile and Sprint both are blackholes in the area, for whatever reason. The second I move to roaming it works beautifully.

Don't they have a grace period (~2 weeks) where you can return the phone if you get poor service?

 

[CellarDoor]

Originally posted by: LolaWiz
Thanks.
ALSO....
i have another question:

What would be the best way to go about switching from SprintPCS to Cingular and transfering our phone numbers?

I know that if i cancel the sprint contract first, they cannot transfer the number from one co. to the other.

What is a good way to do that?

I think you just go to Cingular and they'll do it for you. That's what I did when I switched from Sprint to Verizon. Verizon just kinda took care of it. It was like a one day transition, where I could receive calls on my Sprint phone, but couldn't make calls (or maybe the opposite).

 

[EagleKeeper]

If Sprint can not provide you stable service from your physical base (home), then you have an out.

It would require you to document such an issue.

You need to start logging your phone usage attempts.
Also, every time you get a broken call; contact their customer service *2 and ask for a credit.

You will get up $5-10 and then they will "deny" you. At that point you need to elevate from an automated system to a person.

After a month of tracking the problem; you should be able to go Sprint and show via documentation that they are unable to deliver you reliable service.

Then ask to be released from the contract because they can not deliver.

Make sure that what ever other service you want to switch to actually will give you the service that you require.

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper
If Sprint can not provide you stable service from your physical base (home), then you have an out.

It would require you to document such an issue.

You need to start logging your phone usage attempts.
Also, every time you get a broken call; contact their customer service *2 and ask for a credit.

You will get up $5-10 and then they will "deny" you. At that point you need to elevate from an automated system to a person.

After a month of tracking the problem; you should be able to go Sprint and show via documentation that they are unable to deliver you reliable service.

Then ask to be released from the contract because they can not deliver.

Make sure that what ever other service you want to switch to actually will give you the service that you require.

Would constant roaming do that? Like I said, it works pretty well when it's not Sprint

 

[Lola]

I just got off the phone and they said I cannot use this as an excuse because I do not text message enough. :|
they WOULD NOT cancel it at all.
To be honest, i got ticked at her because of the crappy customer service, poor phone service, etc.
I cannot think of anything else.
So many epopel that are cancelling with this and I cannot. :|

 

[KK]

Tell them to cancel your account, dont ask them. Tell them you were planning to start using the messaging at a certain date and they changed the rates.

 

[Viper GTS]

Originally posted by: LolaWiz
I just got off the phone and they said I cannot use this as an excuse because I do not text message enough. :|
they WOULD NOT cancel it at all.
To be honest, i got ticked at her because of the crappy customer service, poor phone service, etc.
I cannot think of anything else.
So many epopel that are cancelling with this and I cannot. :|

Yes, you can. Rather than argue just say you want a supervisor. They at least should be aware of the changes and the impact it has on your contract.

BTW I worked for T-Mobile a few years ago as a secondary job, whenever an account is opened it is marked with the user ID of the agent + a timestamp. I would be very surprised if Sprint is any different. So all the idiots you've talked to have been noted in your account, and are personally identifiable.

Viper GTS

 

[SoulAssassin]

http://www.wikihow.com/Get-out-of-a-Cellular-Service-Contract

 

[CellarDoor]

I would think a change in the contract, regardless of whether it involved a feature you used or not, would void the contract.

 

[Kyle]

Originally posted by: LolaWiz
I just got off the phone and they said I cannot use this as an excuse because I do not text message enough. :|
they WOULD NOT cancel it at all.
To be honest, i got ticked at her because of the crappy customer service, poor phone service, etc.
I cannot think of anything else.
So many epopel that are cancelling with this and I cannot. :|

When they start giving you the run around and saying you cant, hang up and call right back...after a few tries you'll find some one who will work with you.
I used to have to deal with Sprint all the time (worked at Radioshack) and I would just hang up on the bad reps...there are a BUNCH of bad sprint reps (WAYYY more than Verizon), but keep trying to find a good one and im sure you'll be able to get out of it.

 

[kevnich2]

Sprint has to cancel you without ETF if you request it, it's a requirement for the contracts. They won't like it but if you have a contract with said company and said company changes the terms of the contracts, if you request a cancellation, they have to cancel you with no EFT's. You will have to call a few times to get a rep who won't be an idiot about it though. But complain more and more and it'll just keep adding to your account history but make sure you DO request a supervisor. But keep this in mind, if you do want to port your number over, you can't initiate the cancellation or else you stand a very good chance of losing your mobile number. To port the number, you need to go to the carrier you wish to switch to and have them initiate the cancellation. After the contract is cancelled and you receive your paperwork, if there are ETF listed, then you need to call up and start griping to every supervisor you can saying you cancelled because of said chance in the contract.

 

[swtethan]

Over use Free Roaming. Most phones come with free roaming now. But it's not actually free. The company pays it for you. So all you do is go to an area that is considered roaming (and when you have free nights or weekends) and place a long (5 hours?) phone call to "Moviefone" or something along those lines. You can also set your phone to only roam and instead of utilizing its own network it will search for others and utilize those. This will start adding up for them in the fees they have to pay to the service provider in that area and they will kick you out of the contract. Too bad.




my brother got booted from tmobile for using too many tmobile to tmobile mins.

 

[daweeze02]

when tmobile did this a few months back I got out on my first call

 

[Garet Jax]

Originally posted by: LolaWiz

If we change a material term of the Agreement and that change has a material adverse effect on you, you may terminate the Agreement without an early termination fee by calling 1-888-211-4727 within 30 days after

One person even said that because i do not use this service a lot, it does not apply to me. WTF?!

It seems like what they said was true since you admitted it is not a service you use very much. Having said that, they are in the business of not letting you out of the contract. I expect them to make it very difficult to get out.

You may be able to try with multiple CSRs and see if you get one who's sympathetic to your case.

 

[Garet Jax]

Originally posted by: Turin39789

Originally posted by: Atrail
Well if it went to court you would have to show how the change in the terms had a material adverse effect on you. If you do not use that service I do not see how you could show this...

so send a single text message, and now it does.

untrue - material is the key word

The new policy would need to increase your monthly cost in a material way 15 cents is not material to anyone.