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Canceling ATT because of no coverage area (moving)
- Thread starter harryhood
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Yes. You will always be able to cancel your contract. The question is if you have to pay and EFT and if so, how much it will be. If you are close to your contract end date, I don't think that a good supervisor would have a problem waving the remainder of your contract at no cost, but it's luck of the draw. The only one who can give you the exact answer that you will have to pay is AT&T.
They won't let you out because of bad coverage but if you roam alot they will notify you that they will close your account with no ETF.
Yes, you can get out of it.
File a complaint with the FCC: http://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm State that the service does not work and that they are unable/unwilling to fix it. AT&T cannot keep you locked in a contract if they are unable to provide the service for which they are charging you... even if their coverage map shows your area as covered.
I had Sprint and my phone was completely unusable in Downtown Orlando during the day - towers were overloaded. I canceled the service and then filed an FCC complaint. Two weeks later an FCC representative, working at Sprint, called me and removed the cancellation charges.
Cell phone companies do not want too many FCC complaints so it's your best way out.
File a complaint with the FCC: http://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm State that the service does not work and that they are unable/unwilling to fix it. AT&T cannot keep you locked in a contract if they are unable to provide the service for which they are charging you... even if their coverage map shows your area as covered.
I had Sprint and my phone was completely unusable in Downtown Orlando during the day - towers were overloaded. I canceled the service and then filed an FCC complaint. Two weeks later an FCC representative, working at Sprint, called me and removed the cancellation charges.
Cell phone companies do not want too many FCC complaints so it's your best way out.
out of curiosity where in downtown u worked at? i live in orlando myself...pine hills baby...jk i am in dr phillips area..
I'm pretty sure the area is an area that has ABSOLUTELY NO AT&T coverage whatsoever, it is ALL roaming.
That being said the contract is a family plan not even a month old..ideally I just want to be able to keep the phones and get out of the contract for free..
That being said the contract is a family plan not even a month old..ideally I just want to be able to keep the phones and get out of the contract for free..
**EDIT** you can ignore me. I have no clue what I'm talking about really.
I'm hoping this move was unexpected. Did you check the coverage area before you moved and purchased a family plan? Were you with AT&T before? If you've been long time customer, and this is just an upgraded plan you bought, I can see them letting you out of it fairly easily. But if you knew about the move before purchasing a brand new family plan and didn't check on the coverage, you may be screwed. I'm not sure if there's a period of time you can get out of a brand new contract because the service isn't as expected. I seem to remember reading about that somewhere.
**EDIT** everyone is pretty much saying otherwise. I didn't know you had to return the phone as well. I thought people might use this as a way to get multiple iPhones at the subsidized price and then break their contract. Not saying the OP was trying to, just figured someone had tried it and AT&T wouldn't allow it.
If your contract is less than 30 days, are your phones less than 30 days as well? You can get out of the contract since it's less then 30 days old, but you'll have to return the phones (assuming it's also less than 30 days).
my buddy was able to cancel due to no coverage. give it a try
edit - without having to pay the early cancellation fees that is
edit - without having to pay the early cancellation fees that is
After 10+ hours on the phone with different departments, managers, representatives, I finally spoke to a high up manager and they informed me
"There is no possibility that we will waive ANY ETF's, it simply will not happen"
Apparently with the new iPhone 4 the policy is: "UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES CAN THE ETF BE WAIVED, EVER"
So yeah, just canceled my contract with huge ETF fees.
I just filed a complaint with the FCC, wonder if that will do anything..
sigh.
"There is no possibility that we will waive ANY ETF's, it simply will not happen"
Apparently with the new iPhone 4 the policy is: "UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES CAN THE ETF BE WAIVED, EVER"
So yeah, just canceled my contract with huge ETF fees.
I just filed a complaint with the FCC, wonder if that will do anything..
sigh.
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Probably not.
You have 30 days to figure out if the service in your area is good or not and cancell with no ETF.
That should be plenty of time for anyone to decide if they want to stay or go IMO.
But obviously you cant have both cancell the contract within 30 days and keep the phones for free.
But if you have the phone for 9 months and then decide to move the 30 day return policy does nothing for you.
the crazy things we allow ourselves to get roped into, and we only have to blame ourselves. what other direct service charges you for not using them?
i have suspended contracts and cancelled some. when i went abroad for a year, they told me they could keep my account suspended for 3 yrs if i wanted and *charge* me a reduced rate. i told the service rep, "what point of paying for something im not using makes sense to you?"
they actually have a plan where you pay full price while you are under suspension. its just cheaper to cancel outright.
if i were you i would fight this. it does not matter if it moving were planned or not. they cannot provide you reasonable service in your area is a failure on their part.
i have suspended contracts and cancelled some. when i went abroad for a year, they told me they could keep my account suspended for 3 yrs if i wanted and *charge* me a reduced rate. i told the service rep, "what point of paying for something im not using makes sense to you?"
they actually have a plan where you pay full price while you are under suspension. its just cheaper to cancel outright.
if i were you i would fight this. it does not matter if it moving were planned or not. they cannot provide you reasonable service in your area is a failure on their part.
uhhh well I just called AT&T and told them that I was moving to an area that did not have 3G coverage and I was told without hesitation that I could cancel WITHOUT an ETF...call back and use your big boy voice...also it didn't take me 10+ hours to get to someone that could make that decison...you want the "Customer Retention" dept.
Switched and didn't turn back
We switched over to Verizon a long time ago and haven't regretted it once.
We switched over to Verizon a long time ago and haven't regretted it once.
Pretty much every carrier affords you the right to cancel service with ETF if you move to an area that they cannot service.
The problem here is that what the OP wants to do comes across as a clear cut scam.
Sign family plan, buy iPhone 4s for $200, cancel plan because you move to somewhere with no reception. $750+ phones for only $200 and no contract.
It's for this reason that AT&T is going to be super suspicious. They can't take the phones back because they're over 30 days old. Are they really going to take a hit on potentially thousands of dollars worth of hardware because you couldn't anticipate where you'd be in 30 days when you signed a 2 year contract? Not happening.
If you're getting service through roaming agreements in your area, they're fulfilling their obligation.
The problem here is that what the OP wants to do comes across as a clear cut scam.
Sign family plan, buy iPhone 4s for $200, cancel plan because you move to somewhere with no reception. $750+ phones for only $200 and no contract.
It's for this reason that AT&T is going to be super suspicious. They can't take the phones back because they're over 30 days old. Are they really going to take a hit on potentially thousands of dollars worth of hardware because you couldn't anticipate where you'd be in 30 days when you signed a 2 year contract? Not happening.
If you're getting service through roaming agreements in your area, they're fulfilling their obligation.
When you originally posted on Oct 7th and 8th, you knew you were moving and you also said the contract was less than a month old at that time. So, if you had cancelled then, wouldn't you have been within the 30 days to cancel and return the phones? Just wondering why you waited another 2 months?
I hadn't moved to the new place until after the 30 days buyer remorse period was over.
I talked to manager in every department. I didn't take **** for any of them, they literally said that they do not have the authority to waive the ETF on iPhone 4's. 3 Different managers told me this as I told each of them to send me to a higher manager until the final one said no one can do it.
They were not suspicious of anything, no one is scamming ****. I moved to a area that has absolutely no AT&T coverage. The coverage map shows coverage in this area, but when the were troubleshooting they said that my phone cannot even connect to a single AT&T tower.
Oh funny that coincidentally this up on the front page of MR's today:
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I'd bet $100 that if you didn't have a giant phone subsidy attached to your account, they would have been lenient. Who is supposed to pay for the phones?
I know, without a doubt that is the case. The iPhone 4's have a special policy now that says you can never under any circumstances waive the ETF's.
The last manager literally said to me "if it was any other phone we would waive them"...
Well, lesson to anyone who think they might ever need to get out of their AT&T contract with an iPhone 4 - you'll be fecked.
Any idea on anything else promising I could try?
I was thinking of maybe writing a hard letter to that department.
The last manager literally said to me "if it was any other phone we would waive them"...
Well, lesson to anyone who think they might ever need to get out of their AT&T contract with an iPhone 4 - you'll be fecked.
Any idea on anything else promising I could try?
I was thinking of maybe writing a hard letter to that department.
Here's an idea, sell the iphone 4's to make up for the ETF.
You can easily sell them to make up for the ETF and have some extra cash left in your pocket.
You cant have both no ETF and keeping the iphone 4's.
You can easily sell them to make up for the ETF and have some extra cash left in your pocket.
You cant have both no ETF and keeping the iphone 4's.