AT&T to Raise Early Termination Fee for iPhone and Other Smartphones to $325

[Mr. Chewbacca]

The corporate discount is a scam!!

I had sprint for 11 years and did not want to leave but after using my brothers old 2g as an Ipod I was hooked in the iphone. The trade off was going to AT&T. I wish I had kept my gf's phone with Sprint and just turned on my 2g with no contract so I would have had a choice. hind site 20/20

The "discount" is ONLY on the services that are over 30.00 and between two phones a 140.00 bill has only ONE part that is over 30.00!! My discount with sprint would have been about 35.00 my discount with AT&T is 8.00!!

8.00 are you FUC$ING kidding me. They taylor the charges to be ala cart so you get the smallest discount possable and they still get to brag about 25% off.

My bill (for way less minutes) went up from 100 to 140 when I switched and when I get the 3g coverage it will go up more and most important THE COVERAGE SUCKS!. Its worth it because I love the Iphone but them calling the discount a reason to stay FU@@ING PISSES ME OFF!! SCAMMING A@@ FU@KERS!!

 

[Cheffy Dave]

You know what? F At&t!!

They want blood, they want you for everything you are, like a slave to their crap service. The only reason anyone would even go to at&t is because of the iPhone.

I can't believe this. Forget them now and the iPhone. Will just settle for iPad or iPod Touch because this is a test, I swear. A test to see just how stupid all humans are.

Not here and not me. Take the iPhone and att crap service and shove it up your....... (you know where) punks.

Never again.

I am starting to agree $160 Freakin dollars a month to be abused like this, my contract is up in July buh bye bleed and gouge

 

[iWonderwhy]

Not as bad as here. In Canada, Rogers charges you a $400 termination fee, and thats for all phones.

 

[Cheffy Dave]

I could be gone in a year, this may convince me to take my $300 a month elsewhere. I suppose the others will follow suit though. I'll wait for a while, watching.

Join me I be gone! bastards

 

[theelysium]

OMGosh VZ did it first!

I couldn't have said it better. All those people, like me, who are 1 year into their 2 year contract on the 3GS may consider fleeing to VZ, but this outrageous fee is supposed to prevent it going into the future. This might end up being a self fulfilling prophecy for ATT, as folks like me may consider leaving based on principal, and with the lower $175 fee. It's kind of like entering a marriage with a nasty pre-nuptual, you might not get married in the first place once you see the contract.

You should know that if you flee to VZ they will also have a $325 early term fee for any smart phone you buy. It has been that way for a year now at VZ.

An interesting tidbit to note for AT&T is that it's only said to be on the iPhone, which means if you get a non-iPhone smart phone you should have a normal term fee. (Only saying that based on the rumor.)

 

[Cheffy Dave]

AT&T's greed? Or the greed by those who sign contracts to get a phone that they plan to sell for profit?

wHAT?

 

[Chupa Chupa]

I would have NO problem with this IF:

1) When you paid full boat for an iPhone, i.e., non-subsidized, you could go PAYGO.

2) Once you were six months into a contract with a subsidized phone ATT would unlock it on request -- like they do with all of their other phones.

ATT is entitled to recoup it's subsidy, that is only fair. But it's also only fair to not force people on a contract when no subsidy was incurred or to not unlock the phone once a customer is $1000 in the hole, including the $350 termination fee.

 

[moynihan123]

Scam? Nobody forces you to sign a service agreement when you get your phone. You're free to pay retail price for the phone and not be locked in to a carrier agreement. If you choose to get the subsidized phone, that comes with an obligation on your end -- namely to sign a service agreement and pay for 2 years of service.

The ETF *should* be expensive -- you're breaking a contract that you signed in good faith. There should be a penalty for that.

I don't know what half witted elitist planet you com from but $175 is plenty expensive.

 

[Mark Booth]

325 US$ ... still to cheap! why not charge 100.000 US$? or 1 mio? seems like the companies can do EVERYTHING with their customers in the US...

God Bless the United Corporations of America!

Mark

 

[Cheffy Dave]

Obviously AT&T is planning on a mass exodus at some point. So instead of significantly improving service to retain and keep customers happy, they seek to punish iPhone customers for jumping ship and generate more revenue that way. AT&T is pathetic!!!

You speak the truth, and VERY clearly, screw em

 

[Cheffy Dave]

Yeah, but it's more fun to knee-jerk post in anger instead of thinking about the situation for a moment.

Sol about the greed dude, and nothing else

 

[einmusiker]

I bought my current iPhone 3G unlocked, and I will be doing the same with my next iPhone.

+1

I will never purchase another locked phone

 

[Cheffy Dave]

I don't know what half witted elitist planet you com from but $175 is plenty expensive.

beat me to the punch, to RAISE the fees mid contract sucks stupid, just plane sucks

 

[acfusion29]

lol i'm not gonna read all 10 pages but WOW am i ever happy.

in canada, we have a $400 cancellation fee + $100 data for ANY PHONE. $400 for even a dumb phone. so shut up and stop crying.

 

[theelysium]

Originally Posted by Bodypainter
325 US$ ... still to cheap! why not charge 100.000 US$? or 1 mio? seems like the companies can do EVERYTHING with their customers in the US...

God Bless the United Corporations of America!

Mark

Don't act like a bunch of liberal nazis! Corporate America = Individuals like ourselves who have become successful and spread their success around by hiring dolts like y'all to work for them. Don't bite the corporate hand that fees you!

If you don't like the fee don't sign up for the contract! Purchase a phone out right. Then you don't have to deal with it. That's your choice as a consumer. When people stop using their contracts to buy phones then they may change their policy.

This fee hike might also be an indication that the new iPhone may cost significantly more! Which maybe why the announcement seemed to only say iPhones and not smart phones in general.

 

[calderone]

beat me to the punch, to RAISE the fees mid contract sucks stupid, just plane sucks

Except the fees aren't being raised mid-contract. This only applies to new contracts, not existing ones.

If AT&T was raising it for existing contracts that would give those individuals the right to end the contract with NO fees.

 

[localman]

Wow

AT&T... how can you suck so bad?

No matter what your marketing spin, the fact that you have to put such ridiculously high termination fees on your contracts proves that you believe people will want to leave. Why would they want to leave if you were providing quality service?

Because you're not providing quality service. You're providing lousy service and you know it, and rather than figure out how to improve it so that your customers don't want to leave, you're just threatening them so they won't. That is lousy, lousy, lousy business.

Watch as competitors eat your lunch.

 

[cvaldes]

beat me to the punch, to RAISE the fees mid contract sucks stupid, just plane sucks

Did you actually read the article?

Last sentence of the first paragraph, verbatim: "The change, which would apply only to new contracts, appears set to come just prior to the launch of a new iPhone." (emphasis added)

 

[wizard]

Amayzed at the stupidity demonstrated in this thread.

1. The new fee is for all smart phones moving forward. It is not targetted just at iPhones.
2. No one is forced to sign the contract.
3. While everyone is hyped about Verizon, their ETF is actually higher. Plus Verizon is much more of a nickel and dime company.
4. If you terminate early AT&T will be out a considerable amount of money. There is no doubt here, smart phones are expensive.
5. You can pay Apple something like $699 for a contract free iPhone if you want.
6. If you are tired with these fees from AT&T and Verizon there is always Trac Phone. I'm not trying to be funny here because a Trac Phone and an iPad could be seen as bargains and a powerful combo. Very few people actually need all of iPhones features in their pocket.
7. Other carriers will eventually come but the iPhone built for AT&T might not be compatible. It all depends upon the new iPhone supporting multiple protocols. It is doubtful AT&T is concerned about loosing cutomers. Rather it looks like they are more concerned about loosing money to the EBay resellers. It is a real problem for them.

Those considerations are off the top of my head. In any event people on this forum really have no idea why contracts are used here. If you really think this ETF covers AT&Ts expenses with respect to smart phones you need to go back to school and study some math.

 

[calderone]

Did you actually read the article?

Last sentence of the first paragraph, verbatim: "The change, which would apply only to new contracts, appears set to come just prior to the launch of a new iPhone." (emphasis added)

You don't read the article, you read the headline then post feverishly and hope that a) no one notices b) someone notices but you are right.

They don't consider c) Chances are you will be wrong and will get called on it. This is typically what happens.

 

[theelysium]

AT&T... how can you suck so bad?

No matter what your marketing spin, the fact that you have to put such ridiculously high termination fees on your contracts proves that you believe people will want to leave. Why would they want to leave if you were providing quality service?

Because you're not providing quality service. You're providing lousy service and you know it, and rather than figure out how to improve it so that your customers don't want to leave, you're just threatening them so they won't. That is lousy, lousy, lousy business.

Watch as competitors eat your lunch.

Wake up! VW has had this fee for a long time now! OMG LMAO! Your all dolts open your eyes!

 

[pukifloyd]

att is crazy...i don't know why apple still have contract with them...verizon, att are !#$&^ companies (I've had bad experience with both of them)

T-mobile is the best...they have the cheapest plans, great selection of phones to select from, and nice customer service...I've never dropped a call on t-mobile...and I love their even more plus plans (you don't need a two year contract)

 

[Mr. Chewbacca]

Except the fees aren't being raised mid-contract. This only applies to new contracts, not existing ones.

If AT&T was raising it for existing contracts that would give those individuals the right to end the contract with NO fees.

Thats how I got out of my Sprint contract a year early. They raised a fee by 50 cents mid contract.

 

[jashic]

Don't act like a bunch of liberal nazis! Corporate America = Individuals like ourselves who have become successful and spread their success around by hiring dolts like y'all to work for them. Don't bite the corporate hand that fees you!

If you don't like the fee don't sign up for the contract! Purchase a phone out right. Then you don't have to deal with it. That's your choice as a consumer. When people stop using their contracts to buy phones then they may change their policy.

This fee hike might also be an indication that the new iPhone may cost significantly more! Which maybe why the announcement seemed to only say iPhones and not smart phones in general.

Um, yes. We don't like it. And yes, we will not buy the phone. And yes, we will continue to complain about exorbitant fees.

 

[CFreymarc]

This is the biggest pile of crap that I have ever heard! Of course you won't be losing customers...you have us by the balls!

Called cutting your losses. Can't wait to see the consolidated Class Action Suit on this one. So what Bar Member on this forum is starting to collect affidavits?