My family is with Cingular and locked in for another year and few months. The service is absolute crap. We have trouble getting a signal and we live in a large city, and we're fed up. I'm wondering, if we put up enough of a fuss with them, do you think Cingular would let us out of the contract without paying termination fees? Has anyone been successful in doing this?
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Getting out of a cellular contract
- Thread starter yg17
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I successfully terminated a 2 year contract wtih AT&T after a little over one year. When I called customer service, the representative gave me the obligatory "no, you're obligated to two years of service." I told them I did not remember signing any such paper. I asked them to produce the signed contract as evidence of the agreement and mail it to me. They were unable to find the contract. The representative then cancelled my service.
start to cry.
a lot.
uhmm.. I think I'd try Jon'sLightBulbs' idea first.
But if you do remember signing a contract, they can get you on it... breach of contract and all.
a lot.
uhmm.. I think I'd try Jon'sLightBulbs' idea first.
But if you do remember signing a contract, they can get you on it... breach of contract and all.
My friend couldn't get a signal either, and when the support people at his provider (forgot which one) said that he would have to pay a fee to get out of the contract, he said, "Okay, no big deal." The next thing the customer service rep did was beg my friend to stay. They offered him a free new phone to see if the signal would be better. That phone was quite nice, but didn't pick up a (good enough) signal. Then he was allowed to pick any phone he wanted, even one of the very good ones, without paying a dime. They said the signal would probably be better if he used one of the expensive ones. He agreed.
So he took the offer, got a kick ass phone, and then phoned in and quit his contract with 2 brand new phones. He ended up selling the decent phone on ebay and got $200 for it. He kept the great phone for himself. He paid the cancellation fee with the money he made off eBay. Sweeeeet.
These guys all want to keep you as a customer, plain and simple. It's better if you stay on contract, because most people who are with a company never bother switching providers if they're happy. They make more money from you long-term.
So he took the offer, got a kick ass phone, and then phoned in and quit his contract with 2 brand new phones. He ended up selling the decent phone on ebay and got $200 for it. He kept the great phone for himself. He paid the cancellation fee with the money he made off eBay. Sweeeeet.
These guys all want to keep you as a customer, plain and simple. It's better if you stay on contract, because most people who are with a company never bother switching providers if they're happy. They make more money from you long-term.
I cancelled my Verizon Wireless contract early without paying the Early Termination Fee (ETF) by doing the following:
In August, they added a line to my bill that said that as of Oct. 1st, they were going to be charging a $0.40 "Administrative fee" on each phone line tied to my account.
If you go to Verizon's Customer Agreement page, you will see a line that says:
Our Rights To Make Changes
Your service is subject to our business policies, practices, and procedures, which we can change without notice. UNLESS OTHERWISE PROHIBITED BY LAW, WE CAN ALSO CHANGE PRICES AND ANY OTHER CONDITIONS IN THIS AGREEMENT AT ANY TIME BY SENDING YOU WRITTEN NOTICE PRIOR TO THE BILLING PERIOD IN WHICH THE CHANGES WOULD GO INTO EFFECT. IF YOU CHOOSE TO USE YOUR SERVICE AFTER THAT POINT, YOU'RE ACCEPTING THE CHANGES. IF THE CHANGES HAVE A MATERIAL ADVERSE EFFECT ON YOU, HOWEVER, YOU CAN END THE AFFECTED SERVICE, WITHOUT ANY EARLY TERMINATION FEE, JUST BY CALLING US WITHIN 60 DAYS AFTER WE SEND NOTICE OF THE CHANGE.
So I simply called up Verizon, said I didn't want to pay the $0.40 administrative fee and would like to be cancelled without paying the ETF.
I'm not sure if Cingular has something like this, but it'd be good to check your bill statement and see.
In August, they added a line to my bill that said that as of Oct. 1st, they were going to be charging a $0.40 "Administrative fee" on each phone line tied to my account.
If you go to Verizon's Customer Agreement page, you will see a line that says:
Our Rights To Make Changes
Your service is subject to our business policies, practices, and procedures, which we can change without notice. UNLESS OTHERWISE PROHIBITED BY LAW, WE CAN ALSO CHANGE PRICES AND ANY OTHER CONDITIONS IN THIS AGREEMENT AT ANY TIME BY SENDING YOU WRITTEN NOTICE PRIOR TO THE BILLING PERIOD IN WHICH THE CHANGES WOULD GO INTO EFFECT. IF YOU CHOOSE TO USE YOUR SERVICE AFTER THAT POINT, YOU'RE ACCEPTING THE CHANGES. IF THE CHANGES HAVE A MATERIAL ADVERSE EFFECT ON YOU, HOWEVER, YOU CAN END THE AFFECTED SERVICE, WITHOUT ANY EARLY TERMINATION FEE, JUST BY CALLING US WITHIN 60 DAYS AFTER WE SEND NOTICE OF THE CHANGE.
So I simply called up Verizon, said I didn't want to pay the $0.40 administrative fee and would like to be cancelled without paying the ETF.
I'm not sure if Cingular has something like this, but it'd be good to check your bill statement and see.