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Getting out of Verizon with no Termination Fee

S

skubaman

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 29, 2010
9
0
Hi,
my current company will give me an iphone and pay for my At&t bill. The only problem is that I am currently on Verizon and have renewed back in May.

I notice that Verizon has increased the charges for California PUC fee in the last month bill. . Verizon has stated that that California PUC charge is a Verizon charge and not governmental. I believe that gives ground to cancel contract without paying ETF.

Do you agree?

Let's say I am successful in canceling my contract, would I still be able to port my number to AT&T right away? Because I don't want to be without my phone for an extended period of time.

I appreciate your input.
Thanks
 
You signed a contract, you must live up to your end. Pay the termination fee or stick with Verizon until the end of your contract. It's not rocket science, in fact it's pretty simple. Besides if your job is picking up the bill for you then you'll make up for paying the ETF after several months.
 
thetexan said:
You signed a contract, you must live up to your end. Pay the termination fee or stick with Verizon until the end of your contract. It's not rocket science, in fact it's pretty simple.
Click to expand...

Agreed, you signed a contract and should live up to the terms.
 
It is possible to get out of the contract if you excessively roam.

Basically, you have to cost Verizon more money than you are paying them each month and they might drop your contract.
 
Ok, so let's read the contract I signed:

Our Right 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. (emphasis added)
Click to expand...

They are breaking the contract.
I am using a provision in the contract to get out.

Calling customer service 100 times a day, or using ROAMING always on, would be cheating.

Anyway, could you please address my second question in regards to porting the number.

Stop hating!
 
Good luck battling Verizon over the PUC fee change. You can try and I think you should. However, don't be shocked when you pay your ETF. Your company giving you an iPhone and paying the bill is definitely not their problem.
 
I would say that porting your number over is a separate issue and should be done whether or not Verizon likes it. I believe that is covered by law.

As others have said, if your company is footing your bill for the iPhone and service it would be worth it to you in the long run to just pay the ETF and be done with Verizon.
 
The P.U.C. charge is recovering what the carrier has to pay the Public Utilities Commission to help them pay all their folks to regulate public utilities. Kind of humorous, actually.

Anyway, it's already been determined that relatively small changes no longer count when it comes to dropping a contract. In fact, the carrier pretty much gets to decide what does.

In other words, you'll have to pay the ETF.

To answer your question, I believe that you must always port your number _before_ you leave a carrier. Otherwise it's up for grabs.
 
Thanks for the advice.


So, here is what was initially thinking and I called verizon about it, and they said I would still have to pay ETF.

My fiance's contract with Verizon is up, she didn't renew. I proposed that they let me port my number out, and I would move my fiance in, that way they would profit from locking her for another 18 months, plus I would give her my droid, what would make the bill increase by $20. They would be locking her for a total of about $1800.

But they said I can't do that. They are stupid, since what would happen is that I would pay $300 ETF and both of us will leave verizon. They didn't do the math.
 
skubaman said:
Thanks for the advice.


So, here is what was initially thinking and I called verizon about it, and they said I would still have to pay ETF.

My fiance's contract with Verizon is up, she didn't renew. I proposed that they let me port my number out, and I would move my fiance in, that way they would profit from locking her for another 18 months, plus I would give her my droid, what would make the bill increase by $20. They would be locking her for a total of about $1800.

But they said I can't do that. They are stupid, since what would happen is that I would pay $300 ETF and both of us will leave verizon. They didn't do the math.
Click to expand...

Even if they did that math and liked your figure it is still physically impossible for them to do that. No where in verizon's system will it allow us to move a contract to a different phone number on an account after it's been signed and past 30 days.

Why don't you have your wife take your number, cancel her line and just get a new number on at&t.

1. Super easily done, and you can send a mass text from your old number alerting of your number change.
2. Your wife will still have your old number and can tell people your numbers changed.
3. No termination fee.
4. Everyones :)
 
skubaman said:
Hi,
my current company will give me an iphone and pay for my At&t bill. The only problem is that I am currently on Verizon and have renewed back in May.

I notice that Verizon has increased the charges for California PUC fee in the last month bill. . Verizon has stated that that California PUC charge is a Verizon charge and not governmental. I believe that gives ground to cancel contract without paying ETF.

Do you agree?

Let's say I am successful in canceling my contract, would I still be able to port my number to AT&T right away? Because I don't want to be without my phone for an extended period of time.

I appreciate your input.
Thanks
Click to expand...

If a phone company changes any part of their charges without getting your okay first, you can get out of the contract without an ETF. Some companies only give you 30 days to do so though. If you're gonna try, do it ASAP.
 
xavierpunkreno said:
If a phone company changes any part of their charges without getting your okay first, you can get out of the contract without an ETF. Some companies only give you 30 days to do so though. If you're gonna try, do it ASAP.
Click to expand...

Did you even read the thread?
 
skubaman said:
Hi,
my current company will give me an iphone and pay for my At&t bill. The only problem is that I am currently on Verizon and have renewed back in May.

I notice that Verizon has increased the charges for California PUC fee in the last month bill. . Verizon has stated that that California PUC charge is a Verizon charge and not governmental. I believe that gives ground to cancel contract without paying ETF.

Do you agree?

Let's say I am successful in canceling my contract, would I still be able to port my number to AT&T right away? Because I don't want to be without my phone for an extended period of time.

I appreciate your input.
Thanks
Click to expand...

When you signed a contract, you signed that you will be with Verizon for two years. You obviously knew what you were doing. Those fees go up and down as time changes. It won't get you out of your contract. You best option is to sell your device and use that money to cover your termination fees. Once you move to AT&T, then you don't need VZ phones. They won't work on AT&T anyway.
 
skubaman said:
Thanks for the advice.


So, here is what was initially thinking and I called verizon about it, and they said I would still have to pay ETF.

My fiance's contract with Verizon is up, she didn't renew. I proposed that they let me port my number out, and I would move my fiance in, that way they would profit from locking her for another 18 months, plus I would give her my droid, what would make the bill increase by $20. They would be locking her for a total of about $1800.

But they said I can't do that. They are stupid, since what would happen is that I would pay $300 ETF and both of us will leave verizon. They didn't do the math.
Click to expand...

I don't think Verizon is being stupid. AT&T, Sprint and T-mobile would say the same thing. They will try to lock you guys with them as long as they can.
 
They are not locking by doing it. They are loosing 2 accounts.

The guy even told me to switch my number with my fiance. And port her number to At&t. I mean in the end they stay with 1 account locked for 18 months, it sucks they can't just change the number. I don't understand, why couldn't I put her number in my account, and then I get out of it. It's still 1 person under agreement. Right now there is nothing holding her to verizon. It's more likely that if I go to At&t and pay ETF, she will also go, so we can benefit from mobile to mobile calling. They get $300 and loose 2 customers.
 
"Our Right 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. "

They are not breaking any terms of the contract. This provision was placed in the contract letting them make changes to the contract. This is what was given to you, you "read it" and signed it and agreed to the terms. You agreed to let them change the terms of the contract.

Read the terms of your contract. Specifically read what you posted. You can end service without and ETF IF you can show that the changes had a "material and adverse effect" on you. Im assuming the PUC charged talked about is the same as the "State Public Utility Surcharge" in my bill. For me, it comes out to about 0.08 (eight cents). Considering that that is the "changed", "higher" rate, you're going to have one hell of a time proving eight cents creates a material and adverse effect.
 
skubaman said:
They are not locking by doing it. They are loosing 2 accounts.

The guy even told me to switch my number with my fiance. And port her number to At&t. I mean in the end they stay with 1 account locked for 18 months, it sucks they can't just change the number. I don't understand, why couldn't I put her number in my account, and then I get out of it. It's still 1 person under agreement. Right now there is nothing holding her to verizon. It's more likely that if I go to At&t and pay ETF, she will also go, so we can benefit from mobile to mobile calling. They get $300 and loose 2 customers.
Click to expand...

They're not open to negotiation. You signed a contract and you want to break that contract. Forget about her because she is not a party to the agreement between you and the company.
 
On thing to consider to is how is the company going to pay for your new service. Are they putting you on their account, or just reimbursing you? If you are having your number ported over to their account, and you lose/quit your job, there could be issues with getting your number back.
 
an iPhone data plan is at min about 77 a month with a fan. (hey - I said min). The iPhone itself is 199 or 299 as a new customer to ATT. That means - after Month one, you have appx $276 already recovered out of a $300 ETF.

After the second month - you're already in better shape than you are now.

Seriously - pay the ETF. I don't understand your problem or frustration. You signed a contract. Now because someone offers YOU a better deal YOU want to scam your way out of your contract? It's not like they are holding you hostage for 2 grand making the switch a difficulty.

Talk about looking a gift horse in the mouth. Your company is footing the bill from now until who knows when and that's still not good enough for you?

Sympathy/Empathy level = ZERO
 
Just moved wife and kids over to AT&T with me, we all have iPhones, paid Verizon there Bogus fee of $425 just to leave, and I am not looking back on the rear view window, Tootles Verizon...
 
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