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craigdawg

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 8, 2004
360
0
Sactown
State OKs tough cell phone 'bill of rights'
Firms fear rules will set a precedent nationally

From the article:

-- Cell phone carriers must give their customers a written contract within seven days of signing up, spelling out the rates and key terms. They must also post the price of their plans on the Internet.

-- If customers change their minds within 30 days of signing up, they can drop the contract without paying a termination fee.

-- If a cell phone company wants to change the terms of a contract, it must notify customers 25 days in advance. Those customers can then drop the service within 30 days without paying a termination fee.

-- Basic rates can't be changed in midcontract. However, cell phone companies can change some contract details that would raise bills -- such as the way they round up minutes of call time -- provided they give customers the 25-day notice.​
I think I might be the only person in America who's happy with my mobile phone service provider. I've been with Cellular One --> AT&T Wireless --> Cingular for over 10 years. :)
 

Koodauw

macrumors 68040
Nov 17, 2003
3,951
190
Madison
Hey sounds good to me. I think it might be time to right my representative and tell her that I like what CA has done.
 

rainman::|:|

macrumors 603
Feb 2, 2002
5,438
2
iowa
I'm fairly good at contracts and fine print, but when my partner switched us to Sprint PCS recently, it was very unnerving. The website gave no plan details, although it did let you change plans-- A look at our current plan would be helpful in that case. Their website consistently shows our balance $62 higher than it is, which they've apologized for but cannot fix. We never signed a contract or received a rate sheet, just verbal instruction that didn't cover things like internet use, PCS Vision or roaming information. Now a few phone calls cleared this up (tho i got a lot of conflicting answers from different people), but it was far from the simple upfront info they should have given him.

Normally I don't like a lot of laws that interfere with private industry, but there's something wrong with cell phone companies. They're competitive appearing but probably engage in price-fixing, and will do anything to screw consumers...

paul
 
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