How to Get out of a Cellular Service Contract

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http://www.wikihow.com/Get-out-of-a-Cellular-Service-Contract

How to Get out of a Cellular Service Contract

In the U.S., it can be easier to end a marriage than to leave a loveless relationship with Verizon or T-Mobile. No, you don't have to move to SIM card swapping Europe. Try these guerrilla tactics to get out of your service contract.


Steps

1. Find an alternative Having ammunition as to what contract you are going to switch too will give you confidence and strength to go through with the painful process of getting out of your contract.
   
2. Be a squeaky wheel. Say you want out because the service isn't up to par. (And really, is it?) Then back that up by filing official complaints online with the Federal Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau.
   
3. Get a lemon. Get a known problematic phone, complain 3 times, be let out of a contract due to your local lemon law.
   
4. Try a market-based fix. Some companies such as Celltradeusa.com and Resellular.com match unhappy mobile customers with people who'd like to sign up - at a discount, of course. You'll pay a $20 fee to sell your contract on the block.
   
5. Look for your provider to bury changes to Terms of Service with your bill. Quite often providers modify their service plans, much of the time the modification is a benefit. It doesn't matter, this voids the previous contract. Read the small print on those inserts included with your bill, it will spell out that you have 30 days (may vary on where you live) to cancel your contract with no charge simply because they changed the contract. With SprintPCS, call customer service and ask them to use the "maintenance screen" to enable "direct mailing notification" which will notify you via text message whenever changes are made to your contract.
   
6. Do a radical move. While potentially extreme and ethically dubious, these solutions could free you of the contract:
   
   
   • Get off the grid. If you move and cannot get the same level of service as your previous location, tell your service provider. They're not legally required to cut you loose, but frustrated consumers have reported success. Cingular's policy is to automatically waive the Early Termination Fee in these circumstances. This doesn't work with SprintPCS.
     
   • Join the army. If you are a member of the US Armed Services and you receive orders to somewhere the company doesn't provide service they are obligated to cancel your contract free of charge. Keep in mind, you'll have to provide a copy of your official orders. Again, as of 12/06, this doesn't work with SprintPCS.
7. Overuse Free Roaming. Most phones come with free roaming now. But it's not actually free. The company pays it for you. So all you do is go to an area that is considered roaming (and when you have free nights or weekends) and place a long (5 hours?) phone call to "Moviefone" or something along those lines. You can also set your phone to only roam and instead of utilizing its own network it will search for others and utilize those. This will start adding up for them in the fees they have to pay to the service provider in that area and they will kick you out of the contract. Too bad.
   
8. Force them to produce the signed contract. Tell them you didn't get a copy of the contract (which actually is pretty likely) and ask them to produce a copy and mail it to you. In many cases, copies haven't been scanned into the database, especially with recent mergers, and if they can't produce a copy, the most they can legally hold you to is a year.
   
9. Shrink your plan. As a last resort, cut back to the bare minimum the provider allows and drop any frills, like picture-messaging. Depending on the number of months you have left, this could be cheaper than paying the typically prorated termination fee, which can often run up to $300. However, at some cellular companies changing your plan, even to reduce it, may extend it for at least another year, so do the math first to make certain it will actually save you money.
   
10. Contact the FCC. If you have a valid complaint(s), contact the Federal Communications Commission (FCC, USA only). Typically, your case will be reviewed and the FCC will contact the phone company. In most cases, the phone company will avoid any confrontations with this government body, and will choose to be agreeable and expedite the necessary steps to resolve the complaint. List your opinion for the only valid resolution to be that of contract cancellation without applying fees.
    
11. Dead?? If your cellphone happens to be in someone's name who recently deceased (spouse, Dad, Mom, the CEO/Owner of your workplace) - call and get the service cancelled.
    

Tips

• Think carefully before you sign another contract. If you're reading this article, chances are excellent that you understand the basic nature of mobile service carriers. There are lots of alternatives that don't require contracts, and you might do well to consider one.
  
• Consider just paying the early termination fee. Sure, it's a sock in the wallet - but once you pay, your nightmare is over. Following the steps above can be an unpleasant pursuit that spans hours, days, even weeks. What's your time worth?
  
• If you have a contract with "Unlimited Nights and Weekends", then anything that the carrier does, or doesn't do, to limit the number of minutes you could use during that period is a potential contract violation on the carrier's part. This might work if you consistently receive 'all circuits are busy now' messages or poorer reception than advertised on their coverage maps. Plus it has the added value of being the truth.
  
• Choose one or more these options that applies to you. Honesty is looked at with favor.
  
• No contract is enforceable on a minor.
  
• If you have a high tolerance for hassle, call your carrier's customer service number get the name of the representative and ask them to add a note to your account that states the reason you want to cancel, then tell them you heard that it cost almost $20.00 each time you call customer service. Your early termination fee is 200 and you are going to call 20 times so it will cost them double to keep you as a customer as it will to let you out. Ask for a manager each time. Expect to call ten times before this works. Call when you are on a long drive or have free time. Beware however, with T-Mobile, they may call this harassment, and may say they are going to contact their legal department and still make you pay the termination fee. Call their bluff and say you will call your legal department in return.
  
• With SprintPCS, call customer service and ask them to use the "maintenance screen" to enable "direct mailing notification" which will notify you via text message whenever changes are made to your contract, supposedly. This seems to be the most sure-fire way of getting out with an early termination fee (with an expected amount of resistance from phone reps), but it is, of course, dependent on the company changing the contract.
  
• Sometimes paying the early termination fee (maybe $200) is cheaper then keeping the phone and living with bad service. Especially if you have many months left in the contract and are paying for lots of minutes.
  
• If you are with Sprint PCS, you have an automated way to request credit for a dropped call, no questions asked. Use this feature constantly. At 50 cents a pop, they are likely to want you gone if you're persistent enough. To legitimately drop enough calls. go to an area that is problematic and make as many calls as you can.
  

Warnings

• Not all contracts provide free roaming. Make sure to check before placing a lengthy roaming call. If it's not free in your contract, it will cost you a fortune.
  
• Some carriers will charge you a hefty Early Termination Fee if they kick you off for excessive roaming. For example, Sprint will charge an Early Termination Fee of $200 if they cancel your service with "good cause" (i.e., if you don't pay your bill). Cingular will not.