Awhile back, we reported on Sprint’s regulatory fee increase, and how it is a material change that enables you to cancel service, sans termination fee. Well, Sprint read how we’ve been battling AT&T to get them to fess up and acknowledge their bad behavior.
And, Sprint did something unique in the wireless industry. Instead of making cancelling service an impossible task, Sprint called us up and wanted to work with PhoneNews.com to ensure no headaches this time when cancelling.
Effective today, you can call up customer service and schedule service cancellation. Be sure to follow the following steps, outlined by Sprint:
1) You must call in after January 1 (as in, starting today). Ask to be transferred to the cancellation department.
2) When you reach the cancellation department, note the $.40 regulatory fee increase that took effect at the start of January. Explain that this is a material change, and you would like to terminate service without the early termination fee.
3) If you are porting your number out to another carrier, alert the representative of this. They will note your account to be closed out properly after porting.
4) Be sure to only port your number after calling customer service, and explaining the process above. If you cancel service or port your number to another provider before following steps one through three, you will be charged the early termination fee.
5) You have until January 31st to schedule disconnect of service. You may complete your billing cycle, but any requests to cancel your contract after the 31st will be denied.
If you’ve tried that a couple of times, and haven’t found success… Simply contact us at PhoneNews.com. We’ll get you in touch with a team of ombudsmen at Sprint that will make sure your account is closed properly.
Update (1/6): Latest update on the situation…
We’d like to take a moment to thank Sprint for this industry-leading spirit of cooperation.
Let’s add another “must wait until the charge shows up” excuse. The rep I talked to also stated that everyone will be charged an ETF but those who are cancelling because of this fee increase will have no problem disputing the charge as long as youve called and had your account noted. He said the ETF will show up on your account but as long as you have a note in there about this fee increase, they will be turn it over to Billing Research to retract the ETF.
It’s clear to me now, after all these reports, that Sprint is actively misrepresenting the Terms and Conditions of the contract. This isn’t a situation that is open to interpretation – the bill says “Effective 1/1/10…” The Ts and Cs say we may get out of a contract without ETF after the effective date of the change. Crystal clear. But they have adopted the line of this notion of “billed” or “hitting the bill” (I heard this phrase from 3 reps. Too many to be coincidence.) when neither of those terms or concepts are in the only document that matters – the Terms and Conditions.
I smell some really bad press coming.
I have called 3 times as well and each time they have told me that. The last call the rep must have asked me 10 times if there was another reason I was canceling other than the $.20 increase. I finally hung up on her because she just kept asking no matter how many times I told her that was the reason. She admitted to me that it will show up on my next bill on the 27th but she said they are, “Not allowed” to do any of the cancellations until then. Sprint is evil and most of their reps are either rude or misinformed. I am tired of dealing with them.
Guess what? I actually had a great experience the second time I called. The guy I talked to acknowledged that he could cancel me without the ETF, but asked what the real reason was — said it couldn’t be cause of the .20 or .40 and that if that was all, he’d give me a credit. I told him, the “material change” was the reason I was cancelling but was then honest that I had been looking for an out because my husband and I both had separate Sprint accounts and that because of the economy and job situations I couldn’t really afford my separate account with two lines and wanted to close those and add a new line to my husbands. So, the nice customer service rep said that I’d been a customer for too long to lose and he shut off my old account, with no fees, and added my old number to my husband’s account for $19.99 a month. In the end, I’m saving more than $100 a month on this!
(And, to top it off — I also explained to him that my Blackberry was on the fritz and that I needed to file a claim on insurance and was sick that I had to pay the $100 deductible. So, he just also added a $100 credit to my account to negate the dedutible.)
all that after the first lady was really unfriendly and uncooperative! Go figure.
Sammy- You’re spot on. I pointed this out to my rep and supervisor and politely told them I would wait if they could show me where I was wrong. The language on the T&C and the notice of when the change will be effective are crystal clear. My rep even said I “had a case” based on her reading the same things I was, however both she and her supervisor kept quoting “policy” rather than my actual contract.
i never seen so many people act like this what is the world coming to i guess we are all fucked!!!!! everybody wants to get over on everything its sad to see i am glad i have morales.this is making me sick to my stomack people doing shit just because they can so sad no wonder nobody like us around the world
Act like what? I think most people would like to save money if they have the opportunity to do so. It’s not like Sprint had no idea this would happen if they changed the contract. The whole point for them to have a contract is to lock people down so they cannot leave to save money so if they didn’t want anyone to leave they should just leave the contract terms alone. We are all abiding by the rules that are in the contract and Sprint is the one who isn’t going by the contract.
You may have MORALS (no e needed) but what you do not have are spelling and grammar. By the way, it’s “stomach” genius.
Feed trolls, we should not.
The only feelings I have regarding this matter is immense gratitude towards this web site, the moderators, researchers, and the “civilians” among us who have contributed useful information.
I for one would not even have known about the change in fees, let alone its implications, were it not for this site.
Thank you, Chris, and your team.
Yes, thank you Chris. I’ve been trying for more than six months to work with different people at Sprint to reduce my costs on my cell service in order to stay with Sprint. As one of the millions of victims of the recession, I was really needing to cut back on costs — not just to pull one over on Sprint. Sometimes, we need the legal fine print to accomplish valid purposes and I’m thankful for expert advice on how to work with the companies to make good things happen!
F1 on January 3rd, 2010, 4:48 pm
@ Christopher Price
As Sammy said: “They told me that ending the contract and staying month to month isn’t an option,….â€
Question: So what will happen after the 30 days?
Doesn’t the “regulation fee double to $.40″, until one decides to leave at will, since you are now legally “off contract†?
In the past I have been out of contract for as long as 18 months, waiting for a better phone, to maybe resign, however this time it seems like they are changing the rules once more and pushing/forcing people to leave.
I had 9 out 10 SPRINT employees saying that I am now on a “month to monthâ€, the remaining one who was at Retention/AccountServiesDepartment, said I would have to port my # , but did not give any deadline, typical SPRINT inconsistency !
Christopher Price on January 4th, 2010, 11:45 am
“Understand that you have a (hard-fought for) choice here. You are either saying that the contract’s change is acceptable, or it isn’t. The carrier would be open to abuse if everyone could opt-out of the contract, and then go month-to-month. That isn’t the intent of the material change out option, nor is it supposed to be implemented that way.â€
Response:
The contract has been modified, as such there is a give and take:
a.You agree with the new terms and stay, hence the contract is unaffected.
b.You disagree, contract is voided, the company changes term regardless, however the consumer now has attained the freedom to leave at will with no penalty, or stay and pay the increased fees, out of contract.
The bottom line is that this has it’s consequences for SPRINT, it had to pay a price for the fee increase, that being:
No longer having “the guarantee of a contractual sourced incomeâ€, from those customers who opted to cancel their contract but stay month to month, versus a complete loss of income by the ones who opted to cancel and leave immediately.
In the words of a SPRINT CSR: “We don’t want our customers to leaveâ€!
Thank You
@F1 Just a point of note: It’s not the customer’s option to cancel AND stay month to month. The customer’s only option as allowed by the Service Agreement is to cancel their service without an early termination fee.
Anything Sprint offers to the customer as incentive to continue service is at their discretion. They’d be perfectly within their rights to simply give you the option of (a) canceling/porting with no ETF or, (b) accepting the change in fees.
That said, the fact that there’s STILL no clear message/directive at Sprint from representative to representative, is saddening, and the reason people will call 8-10 times to try and get a “good CSR.”
@Jon
“The customer’s only option as allowed by the Service Agreement is to cancel their service without an early termination fee.”
Understood, but please site where it states that the account does not become “month to month” by default ?
Furthermore, where does it state that one has to port their number after cancellation, and within what time frame if any?
I believe that the policy is kept murky by design, hence to give the company the flexibility to act on a case by case bases.
Thank You
I am very interested in this.
Let me say I am a satisfied Sprint customer under the 1250 SERO plan. I just want to get upgraded phones subsidized as a new customer. I called sprint customer service last month and was told that I could simply port out and dispute the ETF. This was a high level supervisor and i believed him. I am considering doing it now and just signing up for a family plan on the new employee referral plan for me and my wife (1600 minutes for $110 with unlimited everything including unlimited to any mobile, you know the drill). The problem is we would lose our phone numbers, numbers we have had now for 7 years at least. We do not like the idea of changing numbers for any reason of course.
As I read this thread I saw someone say you cannot port your number back to Sprint for 3 months. Is this confirmed?
I ask because I found a company called 3Jam. It is a similar service to google voice in all ways except they charge a monthly fee. For $24.99 you can port your existing number to them and their service is $5.99 for a three month contract.
So if you REALLY want to stay with Sprint, this is an option. My only motivation in canceling my accounts (1250 SERO for me and also one for my wife) is to consolidate minutes as we do not come close to using our monthly allotment andto get new phones already. My Touch has been replaced several times and I want to make the switch to Android already. The moment looks like a sexy phone indeed, so does the Hero. Using 3Jam, we get to keep our numbers, have all calls forwarded to our new cell numbers ala google voice and in 3 months merely port them back to Sprint. All for spending $48 per line after the 3Jam fees are said and done.
Or, of course, wait till my contract ends naturally and see what newer Android phones come out by June, which is always a possibility.
I will probably wait till CES is over to make a decision.
Christopher, thank you for this wonderful site and post. Do we have any new guidance from Sprint on this issue yet?
Sadly so far all we have is chaos, miscommunication, and mostly rude Sprint reps.
Ideally I’d like to be month-to-month with Sprint with my 5 lines (you’d think they would like that rather than kick me to the curb). My billing date is the 21st. Unless I can get a clear cut answer as to whether month-to-month is doable then I may just take them up on their offer to leave. Sad as it is I also may just start up a brand new 5 line plan with Sprint under a different family members name. I will be able to use the service and phones for 30 days, risk free while this mess gets sorted out. I can always return them. How ugly would that be for Sprint?
If I keep them then I’ll be back on contract but will have 5 new phones to sell to lessen the pain.
Again, I’d rather they just put me month-to-month and be done with it. This isn’t a “Get Sprint” attitude, they broke the contract pure and simple. You think they would let ME break the contract without some ill effects? Right. The contract I signed is broken, good. Make it go away and I’ll stay, month-to-month, it’s pretty simple.
Matt, look back at my posts. I too am a longtime customer who is generally happy with Sprint. I’ve had an account for about 15 years and had 2 lines for my home business. My husband had been on Verizon until about a year ago and switched over and had his own account with two lines (for he and his parents). My home business has faltered in this economy and I no longer could justify two lines and really wanted to get on my husband’s account since we were both paying $129 a month for our two lines a piece. But, previous efforts to at least cancel one line had failed until I saw this rate surcharge gave me an opportunity to get out of my contract totally. I figured rather than go through the hassle of porting my number to a different company for 90 days and then coming back to Sprint, I was just going to lose my number and start over on my husband’s account. The second customer service guy was pretty straightforward with me. I gave the materially adverse spiel and he said he knew that wasn’t the reason I was cancelling and that I’d been with Sprint too long to start over and have to get a new phone number. He cajoled me into telling him the real deal and when I did, he simply moved my main cell phone number over to my husband’s account (for the $19.99 a month for additional line) and closed the account attached to my name with no ETFs. The result is that I no longer have a $129 a month account and it’s costing my husband $20 more to have me on his. A net savings of $109 a month! I’m pretty happy about that! (and he also didn’t make me have to sign a new 2-year to get on my husband’s account!)
So, if your situation is the same — with two accounts within the same household, you might have some luck.
Ellen
This is my first run with Sprint. I was honest when I contacted them, that I am really wanting new phones and I am sick of my refurbbed Touch that came with a $100 deductable. I just want to upgrade my phones and I would love to do it now rather than wait till my SERO accounts expire. If there is an out now I will take it, otherwise wait till May/June when I am entitled to the full upgrade discount (as opposed to the $75 I can get if i extend now).
It is all going to coe down to what happens at CES tomorrow. I rread that Sprint and LG will be doing a joint press event. There is a new LG Android phone coming out and rumor is it will be the Prada 3. If thats the case and it is available now, I may just go for it. If it won’t be made available till later this year I am willing to wait for it. The Moment and Hero phones are nice too, but I have a feeling the Prada will be better.
With everyone wondering if they can go to month-to-month, or get a discount, or some special exception – all because of this $0.20/mo additional fee, no wonder Sprint has all the tricks and gags in place.
If you got a free phone worth hundreds of dollars when you signed up, you should not be allowed to go month to month. If you disagree with this new fee, you should be able to cancel your contract with Sprint, plain and simple. No exceptions, no deals, just end your service.
Ok, now that I’m done defending Sprint, are they ever going to get their act together and handle this whole mess in a clearcut manner? So far it has been complete confusion.
And the poster who is “waiting to see what happens at CES” before making a decision??? Give me a break dude!!!!!!!!!!! Either keep your contract with Sprint or get out!
This kind of abuse is what causes companies to behave the way they are here.
We’re still looking into the issue with Sprint.
As of yesterday, Media Relations confirmed once again that you should be able to cancel now, sans ETF, regardless of your bill cycle. However, they are looking into the situation further to understand why people are having issues.
Joe and Steve:
If you don’t like what you see, here, stay the hell off this site!! We as consumers get screwed by phone companies all the time, and they do very little for us, so why not stick it back to them once in awhile?!
Joe
I just am sick of an outdated phone that is breaking every couple months forcing me to pay a $100 deductible each time. With 6 months left on my contract, two more deductibles will pretty much be the price of a new phone at the subsidized rate!
I like sprint and I want to continue with them. I want to see what new phones are around the bend before I make this jump and get something now. You never know what is coming out and since I have my aim set on an Android device I don’t want to take the only things on the market now for Sprint. I try to be educated in my purchases and I for one find it foolish to just jump when I KNOW there is supposed to be an announcement by Sprint TODAY about a new android phone. The current offerings from Sprint (the Hero and the Moment) seem to be good phones but I have been reading the next generation of Androids will be superior. Why get locked into yesterday’s technology by jumping the gun too soon the very week that all the tech companies are unveiling their roadmaps? I am perfectly willing to stick with my plan for the next several months if it means I will be able to get a product that satisfies me more then than one I can get now.
Sprint is actually helping this forum…read the article at the top.
Every time something like this happens, someone like “Joe” comes up to judge the folks who want to take advantage of the situation presented to them. Please don’t judge me sir and while it is free to use as many question marks and exclamation points as you want to make yourself noticed, it makes you just look like another ass behind a keyboard who finds themselves superior to everyone else out there.
I just tried again to set my 5 lines for cancellation, even though my new bill has not yet been posted (and I had been denied a couple of days ago).
When the rep asked whether the regulatory fee increase was the only reason for my leaving, I said that (a) the regulatory fee and the changes in T&Cs are my reasons for leaving, but that (b) “what would it take to keep me with Sprint?” is a different question, if that was his meaning.
He then asked, “What would it take?” and I replied that I would keep my 5 lines with Sprint in exchange for the same $20/month continuing credit that other customers had been given. He offered to do exactly this, in exchange for my renewal of the contract on my primary line. I agreed.
Now we wait for my February bill. He clarified that since my billing period just closed, my January bill was already in preparation and would not see the $20 credit.
People, in my not-so-humble-opinion, some of us are sharing TOO MUCH INFORMATION. I’d rather not read a long history about why you want to cancel your service and what you don’t like about your phones.
I liked the way the early posts were about people’s experiences calling Sprint to cancel their service. Can we try to keep the comments on that topic please?
Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude with my previous comment; just an observation.
And I forgot to say thanks to Christopher Price for the great information, and also to everyone for sharing their experiences.
First, I want to thank Christopher for this article. Without it, I don’t think I would have had the courage to try and call in to port-out w/out paying an ETF.
I just called in customer service this morning, got to a representative, and asked to be transferred to the cancellation dept. When this rep asked why, I just told them in a nice, calm voice that I saw a notification on my bill (page 2, upper left, under “Regulatory Charge/Ts&Cs Changes) for the Regulatory Charge increase effective January 1st, did not agree with it, and wished to cancel. She transferred me right away to the cancellation dept. Once there, the cancellation rep, asked me what she could help me with. I said exactly the same thing I said to the other rep, and she asked me if I saw the change on my bill.
I told her that I only see a $0.20 charge for it on this bill, but I was aware of the notification in the upper left of the bill that it will change, and I would rather take care of this now than wait. She put me on hold for a minute and when she came back, she said she notated my account, and for me to call back after I have ported.
Took about 7 minutes. I didn’t have to escalate, they did not give me a hard time at all. I believe its in your approach (calm, professional) and the way you state your reason to cancel. Good luck to anyone else who is going to try this!
First off, I switched from T-Mobile to sprint back in November to get the new Hero. I have had issues with the phone since day 1. Especially with dust getting under the screen. And more than 3 times i have not been able to send or receive text messages for over a span of hours. This is unacceptable. I never had issues with text before, and ive been with Cingular, and tmobile..just thought i would give Sprint a try. No doubt their prices are the best for data/ email..but text is big for me. I send about 5 to 6 thousand a month due to work and firends. So i cannot be receiving a text from a client 30 or 40 minutes after they sent it to me!
I say all of this to justify my reasoning of cancelling my Sprint contract. I love their prices and internet speed, but also with the newly released Nexus One on t-MObile…oh i want that phone. So i will be calling Sprint very soon to see about cancelling once i receive my January bill. Its been fun, but not enough to keep me.
Originally they said I had to call back after the fee is charged, but since I’ve read some of the latest comments, I decided to call again. Glad I did. Just cancelled 3 business phones that we don’t use and had to put on seasonal usage to avoid the EFT. Was on the phone about 7 minutes and had no problems cancelling these extra numbers on our account. (Thanks Sprint! That’s why we continue our Sprint service on our many lines of service.)
I am definitely going to be cancelling.
My question is…when do I switch to a new carrier? My billing cycle ends on January 19th. Would I go to T-Mobile today and get everything set up or do I wait until my cycle is up? I am going to port my number- so I am wondering if that switches over on the 20th?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
@Shimko
I asked the rep if there was a date I needed to port by, and she only recommended that I port by my billing cycle date so I had an even bill. If I ported before/after that, it would just be another pro-rated bill (or credit if you port before).
So if you don’t mind these billing details, you can port anytime. Just make sure you do it after getting a Sprint rep to agree to waiving your ETF and notate it on our account. If you port without doing that, you’ll probably get charged.
When you go to the other carrier to sign up for new service, they will cancel your old account and port your number for you. Usually it happens in the same day.
Hope this helps.
@ Matt
The LG on SPRINT is supposed to be a Mobile 6.5 OS.
also:
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2010/01/06/sprint-and-samsung-announce-a-mobile-dtv-enabled-version-of-the-android-powered-moment/
To all the ones that complain about the ones that share their experiences with us:
I would like to ask you to consider our experiences with SPRINT, when you think that there is “abuse” in “canceling a contract” and going “month to month”, In a light hearted way, I frankly would liken this behavior to the “Stockholm Syndrome”. We want to leave, but we try to understand SPRINT!
Another example:
During the past five months, after my 2.5 year old Samsung M610 with 600 entries had died, even though I was off contact,I was forced into a choise between a free but dated Lotus LG or for some extra $175 out of my pocket (now discontinued) the Palm Pro 850 Mobile 6.1.
My first Palm Pro was defective, but they would not switch my Phone for another make, such as the BB Tour which was just released, because I had just missed my 30 day window.
It took them 2.5 hours to transfer my Data, same happened with the second “Rec”/ “refurbished unit”, I am on the third one as of now, which I received on the first of this year,so much about the hardware!
Regarding service, they were not able to transfer my text messages at all, even later found out that they had selectively deleted my SPRINT Corp contact numbers, and yet when I asked if they had all the numbers transfered, they said I would have to check it one by one, myself !
However they would not allow me do it in the store, since “we are now closing”, this is after spending 7 hours waiting for them at the store on New Years’s day, they said they had no battery, and they could only give me a refurb. even though they had a new unit, and mind you the Palm Pro is not only discontinued at Palm but also at SPRINT, I sited that I had the $7 a month insurance on my account, they said for me to call “them”, they will not switch it for a new unit, even though, I was just in 2 weeks prior for the other refurb unit.
I was not going to renew my contract by getting a Touch Pro 2, for the past 20 months I have had such poor reception that even they had asked me to use my roaming, the catch is that SPRINT has quietly removed the “Roam only” option from it’s entire phone line up, mind you that since 1997 I have maybe used 1 hour of roaming.
The only phones that allow you to “force roaming” as of now are the Mobile 6.1 units, that is only after a hack btw, point being that they are forcing people to drop their “perfectly matched plan” per their own SPRINT “my lounge analysis page”, even after all the discounts and adjustments on an $90 or $70 E.P. I would have to pay a minimum of 8 times (40 cents per minute) to 9 times (45 cents per minute) times what I am paying now (5 cents) for every extra minute over my current “Fair & Flexible 700 plan”.
I even considered purchasing an ERIS and flashing it over to SPRINT, and was even recomended by the SPRINT Corp Tec at the store to purchase a HERO at full price and activated on my current plan, only to be told about 45 minutes later that he was told it would not work, he even said my “Ideas were too big, I need to think smaller, you want a Jaguar in a CIVIC”!
At last they offered to remove the increased fee, instead I took the $7 charge of my bill.
My question to you is who is abusing whom?
On the other hand I just re-checked with SPRINT regarding my account status, guess what I was told?
I am indeed on a “month to month” as of the first of the year, she asked me to use her “Plan Optimizer”, upon which she informed me that my concern regarding the above overrages on the E.P. have been eliminated, since I could utilize the “Overage Relief” program at same rate as my current Fair & Flexible 700 as in $5 for extra 100 minutes!
Who knew ! Another discovery at SPRINT, too borrow a line of the 1994 movie “Forrest Gump” :
” You never gonna know, what you are gonna get” … when you call SPRINT!
I am free as a bird, and I am staying with my Fair & Flexible 700 for now!
Thank You
I just did this – took about 15 minutes. They were very nice. After I told them I was terminating because of the material change, and that I wanted to port my number – the rep put me on hold, then came back and let me know how it was going to work:
1) She would note the account.
2) When I port, Sprint automaticlly will bill the ETF.
3) When I get the bill, I call her direct line, and she will waive it (by opening a VRT case).
Her supervisor came on the phone, confirmed how it would work and gave me a confirm number.
Thank you for the info!!!!
Explain to me how this is possible, I read the contract and the part you mention is correct EXCEPT the very next paragraph says they can change surcharges (Like the regulatory Surcharge) and it does not have any affect on the ETF clause, pated it below, look at C in the second paragraph. I want to terminate but how does this affect that? Seems like they can do anything they want and you can not do anything?
Our Right To Change The Agreement & Your Related Rights
We may change any part of the Agreement at any time including, but not limited to, rates, charges, how we calculate charges, or your terms of Service. We will provide you notice of changes that may impact you in a manner consistent with this Agreement (see “Providing Notice Under This Agreement” paragraph). Except as provided below, if a change we make to the Agreement is material and has a material adverse affect on you, you may terminate each line of Service materially affected without incurring an Early Termination Fee only if you: (a) call us within 30 days after the effective date of the change; and (b) specifically advise us that you wish to cancel Services because of a material change to the Agreement that we have made. If you do not cancel Service within 30 days of the change, an Early Termination Fee will apply if you terminate Services before the end of any applicable Term Commitment.
The following, without limitation, will generally not be considered changes to the Agreement as contemplated in this provision and will not result in the waiver of applicable Early Termination Fees: (a) changes to our Policies; (b) changes to rates or charges that are not a core part of the rate plan package for which you contracted – for example, incidental, occasional or casual use charges and other options that do not require a Term Commitment; (b) changes to Taxes & Government Fees; or (c) changes to Surcharges, including assessing new Surcharges.
rich,
I think you’re looking at an old version of the T&Cs which was clearly illegal. Here are the latest T&Cs for both 2009 and 2010:
http://nextelonline.nextel.com/en/legal/legal_terms_privacy_popup.shtml
Quick question folks: In terms of ASL accounts, are we eligible to opt out of a contract with no ETF as well? I got a notice that a $4.99 a month fee will be applied to my bill. Given that it’s not in my original contract, I would think I could cancel my account as well.
The .20 regulatory fee is one thing..(Although I do indeed follow and agree with the principle of the matter) but 5 bucks a month more? C’mon man.
Thanks in advance.
Has anyone with a newly opened plan been able to fulfill the contract and remain month to month? We just started service in October for the Hero and actually added another two lines in the beginning of December. Thanks
Just tried it.. was told it wouldnt take effect until my 1/27/10 and to call back at that time.
@FMD: You can self-rationalize as much as you want, that doesn’t change the fact that you are abusing a loophole to exit a contract. I love this site and the post, it’s the blatant abuse in the responses we are all reading that makes me sick.
@Matt: If you don’t like your phone, buy a different one. There are plenty on ebay to choose from, several that are right around the $100 mark you’ve been paying. Also, next time you get a new phone, add Sprint’s $7 insurance option on to your plan. If your phone has a mfg defect, it will be replaced for free.
@Jesse
That doubles the cancellation reason and chances for you!
Good luck!
Thank You
Just an update. Called Sprint, told them about the new regulatory charge. She said ok and tried to get me to stay, of course i said nope. So as soon as i activate my number on my other phone and the ETF is sent to my account. I give them a call and it will be waived. took no more than 3 minutes!!
@Joe
It is not a loophole, it is a broken contract. Sprint agreed to charge me a certain amount per month if I stayed for 2 years and I agreed to pay it. Just as I can not arbitrarily decide to pay them less, they cannot arbitrarily decide to charge me more. The amount they raised it is inconsequential, $.01 or $100, doesn’t matter. No loophole, it’s clearcut. If they don’t want the fallout of their actions then they should simply NOT change the contract.
@Don: I don’t disagree with you. A contract is a contract.
My point is…..I am betting that Sprint is playing games here because they see blatant posts such as above,
“I’m going to wait to see what happens at CES before making a decision.” In other words, he may/may not use the $0.20 fee to avoid the ETF, get out of the contract, and get a better phone.
@Jesse
Yes with the ASL $4.99 charge increase you can cancel your service with no ETF.
@ Everyone that KEEPS asking
“Why do they keep telling me that I cannot cancel until I get my first bill since they said this was effective January 1?”
UNDERSTAND CONTRACTS first off. A contract is NOT broken until the material change has gone INTO effect. So if you are advised that it’s going to happen it doesn’t mean that you can jump ship right then, since Sprint is abiding the original contract and has not broken it yet. When you are charged the .40 cent fee then Sprint has broken the contract. You are now within your contractual right to jump ship or continue your service but by continuing your service over the 30 day window then you are agreeing to the change.
“Why can’t I go month to month?”
NO. That is why sprint is a Post Paid cellular carrier. They subsidize your new ($5-600 retail) with a promise from you, the customer that you are going to keep your service for the agreed upon 23 months. Letting you go month to month just gives the person the option of walking away whenever they feel like it causing Sprint to lose money. Now for some folks that don’t understand, Sprint is a “For Profit” cellular provider. They are not in the business of giving you a $300-$400 discount off a device to then allow you say, “eh…I don’t like this phone I’m going to cancel and since I don’t have a contract ill just sell this phone on Ebay and go to T-mobile.” You want month to month? Pay Retail… no contract required! Have some accountability! Sprint is. Their allowing you to walk away for a measly 40 cents a month. AFTER they charge you the 40 cents and breach their contract with you.
“‘what’s the real reason you want to cancel?’ The material change is the reason for me canceling.”
Seriously? No. The reason you are cancelling is that you have been wanting to get the I-Phone or other carrier latest greatest like every other yuppie have-to-have it consumerist. For those that really do have lines that are never used because business is down and must cancel to reduce cost- good for you! No really.
“We’re in a Recession you shouldn’t raise prices.”
Forgo that Latte and scone tomorrow morning and you’ll have saved enough to pay that fee ($9.60) for the entire 23 month contract cycle and probably more left over to buy a paper!
Leavin? Still?
Enjoy your $350 ETF with Verizon
But I like my Scones. 🙂
I’m sticking with Sprint, because their rates are the cheapest, and their coverage is outstanding in my area. However, I’m not to happy about the the ASL fee, and I do plan on leveraging this situation to better my deal.
If anyone has a problem with that, I don’t care. I’ll be enjoying my Latte! 🙂 (J/K)
So did I make a mistake by not porting my numbers when I cancelled? It seems like I would be guaranteed to be out of my contract if my phone number was activated on a different carrier… Sprint couldn’t change their mind about letting me cancel. I didn’t want to keep my Sprint phone numbers, so I opted not to port them.
I’m just a little confused because it sounds like everyone else is porting their numbers as a necessary step.
@Jesse
At this point with the ASL fee there really is no leveraging the situation. The only way to get out of that cost is to just set up automatic payments. Then after a certain period you will be removed from the ASL because of all payments have been made on time and no longer subject to the fee. There are no other discounts or credits that can off set that cost.
@KN
You DO NOT have to port your number to take advantage of Sprint err… take advantage of the fee increase. If you cancelled without taking your number you too will not be charged. When you cancel you cancel at the end of the billing cycle. Porting does it immediately
@RC
Yes, Sprint is a “for profit” company and gosh darnit I love them, seriously. However, they did break the contract which does let me leave, free and clear with all my phones for not one penny more. If they are truly a for profit company what exactly is the reasoning for denying month-to-month? I’m either gone with everything to feed one of their competitors or I stick around and give the ‘for profit’ company some profit, contract or no contract?
From a business sense the logic escapes me. I’m all ears though…..
I too have sero accounts (500,1250) and when I called to get out of contract to port my numbers in the future I was offered $20/ mo credit for 24 mos. which I took. That brings my 2 sero lines to $59/mo. for 1250 and 500 minutes. I also had a line on seasonal standby which I was able to cancel ETF free while renewing my other two lines for two years…
@ Don
RG thinks SPRINT is a for Profit Company, just take look at their quartely Statement, for the last eight years, how about $35 Billion on Nextel??
Month-to-month, is some income, which should be considered a higher income over the grand sum of ZERO dollars, some income could even bolster something some might call “Profit”.
We do appreciate his passion and pride for SPRINT!
Thank You
RG= RC
Thank You