tuaris
You Clicked on the Apple
join:2001-10-19
Naples, FL
| Sprint Refusing to waive Early Termination Fees
I received this disturbing message from Sprint:
"We are unable to confirm that the recent changes to our Unlimited Data plan will negatively impact you; therefore, respectfully we are unable to waive your Early Termination Fees. Please contact me at the number provided below at you earliest convenience for further discussion."
I thought that if they are changing their terms, the are basically nullifying the original contract?
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President/CEO - Pacy World - »www.pacyworld.com |
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Black05Hemi
join:2004-06-17
Yucca Valley, CA | lol now they're trying to weasel there way out of the ETF...You change the TOS, you waive the ETF, right? |
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Dersgniw
Disco Crunchin
Premium,MVM
join:2001-08-10
behind you
clubs:
 ·Optimum Online
| reply to tuaris
Would it impact you?
Their terms state this (bold mine)
quote:
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.
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I Smell Cures! -- Our Hope |
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cpayne5
join:2004-01-06
1 edit | reply to tuaris
What's the big deal?
If you download a ton and they see it as "unreasonable" then they will terminate you for free. If you never get that termination letter, then it's business as usual until your contract expires. Unless you're just looking for a way out of your contract regardless, of course.
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Hail To The Redskins |
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DarnellP
join:2004-10-12
Las Vegas, NV
| said by cpayne5  :What's the big deal? If you download a ton and they see it as "unreasonable" then they will terminate you for free. If you never get that termination letter, then it's business as usual until your contract expires. Unless you're just looking for a way out of your contract regardless, of course. What he said... |
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mooch
No Booing Allowed
join:2001-11-11
Johnstown, OH
| reply to cpayne5
said by cpayne5 :What's the big deal? If you download a ton and they see it as "unreasonable" then they will terminate you for free. If you never get that termination letter, then it's business as usual until your contract expires. Unless you're just looking for a way out of your contract regardless, of course. I was under the impression that if you "download a ton" that you'd open the door to be billed for overage charges exceeding the 5 gig cap. What would be the sense in Sprint establishing a cap and overage charges if they didnt plan on implementing that at some point? |
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ydoucare
join:2003-03-12
Rensselaer, IN
 ·Embarq
 ·Millenicom
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
1 edit | said by mooch :said by cpayne5 :What's the big deal? If you download a ton and they see it as "unreasonable" then they will terminate you for free. If you never get that termination letter, then it's business as usual until your contract expires. Unless you're just looking for a way out of your contract regardless, of course. I was under the impression that if you "download a ton" that you'd open the door to be billed for overage charges exceeding the 5 gig cap. What would be the sense in Sprint establishing a cap and overage charges if they didnt plan on implementing that at some point? I'm pretty sure they stated there would not be overage charges, but they would throttle your connection, or simply terminate you.
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Asus P5N-E SLI|E4500|2 GB DDR2 800|8800GT|Audigy + Front Bay|Hauppauge PVR-150MCE|Vista Ultimate + XP Pro SP2 dual boot|Sony Vaio VGN-CR290|Sprint Mobile Broadband|Netgear WGR614v8 |
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Sprint SUX
@verizon.net | reply to cpayne5
The deal is that they won't let you go for free. They will charge the ETF. THE new T&C states that they will charge the $200 ETF fee regardless of of it was them or you who cancelled. |
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cpayne5
join:2004-01-06
| said by Sprint SUX :
The deal is that they won't let you go for free. They will charge the ETF. THE new T&C states that they will charge the $200 ETF fee regardless of of it was them or you who cancelled.
Interesting. I've never seen a provider do that; force you out and charge you for it.
I haven't read the TOS, but if what you are saying is true, then the blurb posted above would cover this situation, anyway.
If they did not charge for force-outs in the past, but now do, that would be a "material adverse effect", no? Therefore, they would have to let you out of the contract with no ETF, since the application of an ETF has changed. 
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Hail To The Redskins |
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Black05Hemi
join:2004-06-17
Yucca Valley, CA | We agreed to a contract that provided unlimited usage...They change the contract to a 5GB cap, yet we can't cancel for free? |
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caribconsult
Premium
join:2003-03-19
Mayaguez, PR
 ·HughesNet Satellit..
·Millenicom
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
| reply to tuaris
Sprint must be hemorrhaging clients. All of this demonstrates the lengths to which they will go to give you less for more, then claim it is not a change in TOS qualifying for no ETF. This 'legal phraseology' sounds like something written by someone who worked for IRS or Social Security at some point. It seems to be the hallmark of many sales-driven companies; to convince you that less is a better deal for you.
What does this say about our susceptibility to slick marketing? But then again, isn't that why we have government agencies like FTC and FCC? To keep people and companies serving the public honest? Great job, Brownie.
For those of you who bill your Sprint account to a credit card, have you considered the escape option of reporting the card lost? Your card issuer will send you a new one with a different account number and sprint will be unable to bill you. It's a bit of a gamble as to how far they will take matters over a few nickels, but I think this was one strategy I used on Hughes and they conceded to cancel the ETF. I didn't have to report the card - just the threat of it was enough to create in their awareness the golden rule of "he who has the gold makes the rules" and in this case the gold was mine. I just took a very hard-ass proactive stance and just kept repeating to the rep that the service was unacceptable, check the speedtest log, period, end. I probably had to repeat this 4-6 times along with the credit card bit and he finally gave in. I don't warranty this approach at all - just thought I'd offer it up as another way.
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Franklin CDU680/Assent MBR400 combo, CAY1912 panel antenna, Millenicom, 4 XPPro stations, Mozilla everywhere. |
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tuaris
You Clicked on the Apple
join:2001-10-19
Naples, FL
| reply to Black05Hemi
said by Black05Hemi :We agreed to a contract that provided unlimited usage...They change the contract to a 5GB cap, yet we can't cancel for free? EXACTLY!
They should be paying us!
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President/CEO - Pacy World - »www.pacyworld.com |
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tuaris
You Clicked on the Apple
join:2001-10-19
Naples, FL
| reply to caribconsult
said by caribconsult :For those of you who bill your Sprint account to a credit card, have you considered the escape option of reporting the card lost? Your card issuer will send you a new one with a different account number and sprint will be unable to bill you. It's a bit of a gamble as to how far they will take matters over a few nickels, but I think this was one strategy I used on Hughes and they conceded to cancel the ETF. I didn't have to report the card - just the threat of it was enough to create in their awareness the golden rule of "he who has the gold makes the rules" and in this case the gold was mine. I just took a very hard-ass proactive stance and just kept repeating to the rep that the service was unacceptable, check the speedtest log, period, end. I probably had to repeat this 4-6 times along with the credit card bit and he finally gave in. I don't warranty this approach at all - just thought I'd offer it up as another way. I'm glad that that approach worked for you, but it's probably not a great idea unless a significant amount of people do it. Sprint is technically a phone company, and that has a heavy weight on your credit.
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President/CEO - Pacy World - »www.pacyworld.com |
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tuaris
You Clicked on the Apple
join:2001-10-19
Naples, FL | reply to tuaris
I'm thinking of sending in a complaint to the FTC or BBB, any suggestions?
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President/CEO - Pacy World - »www.pacyworld.com |
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caribconsult
Premium
join:2003-03-19
Mayaguez, PR
·HughesNet Satellit..
·Millenicom
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
2 edits | TUARIS: have you tried to contact their corporate office and maybe speak to the VP of customer relations or someone similar? Hughes had a whole section of guys as assistants to the prez and if you called for the prez one of these guys took the call and they had way more power to get things done. I don't know if sprint has anything similar, but it's worth a try.
As I said, there are risks involved in that approach, in that you don't know to what lengths Sprint will go to collect their $200. That's not exactly a huge sum and some of it will go to a collection agency, if they want to get that crappy, which they certainly can. Definitely a dice-roll. Sometimes just the threat is enough - you don't actually have to go through with it.
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Franklin CDU680/Assent MBR400 combo, CAY1912 panel antenna, Millenicom, 4 XPPro stations, Mozilla everywhere. |
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dgoner
Premium
join:2002-03-08
Bourbonnais, IL
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
1 edit | reply to tuaris
I cancelled because of the new cap and was told because they changed the terms there would be no ETF. It took a second phone call to them to get it done as the first rep tried to play hard ass with me. I was smart enough to record both conversations and am thinking about going public with them much like the much publicized gentleman who tried to cancel his AOL account went public with his audio recording of the experience. Seemed to be a real embarassment for AOL at the time. Sprint has NO legal grounds to hold you to a contract that offered unlimited service and now is limited.
If you call back and still keep getting the run around I would suggest making a complaint to your states attorney generals office, commerce commission and the better business bureau. With past experience with my states commerce commission the utility company I complained about suddenly started calling me up on the phone and instead of being rude and nasty they were falling over themself trying to make me happy. Funny what the right calls can do for you.
My guess is Sprint found out they were going to lose more then the 1% problem accounts they claim and now are trying to make it impossible. Hold your ground and be ready to fight for your rights... |
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countryboymo
join:2005-11-27
Amoret, MO
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
| I called Sprint and informed them that I get a discount through my work and that I was told it would be a truly unlimited service no matter what after I got the 5gb cap message on last months bill and the representative got her supervisor and he informed me he would take care of it. My bill this month has nothing but unlimited on it. I hated watching my usage on Wildblue and hope I don't have to start doing it with Sprint. |
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netwire
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Mooresboro, NC | reply to tuaris
I can vouch for the contacting of the BBB; I just had to deal with them in relation to AT&T. Thanks to the BBB I was able to get out of my 2yr contract 6 months early.
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World of Warcraft - My anti-drug.
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Majestik
World Traveler
Premium
join:2001-05-11
Tulsa, OK
clubs: 
| reply to countryboymo
said by countryboymo :I called Sprint and informed them that I get a discount through my work and that I was told it would be a truly unlimited service no matter what after I got the 5gb cap message on last months bill and the representative got her supervisor and he informed me he would take care of it. My bill this month has nothing but unlimited on it. I hated watching my usage on Wildblue and hope I don't have to start doing it with Sprint. Same here.
I am not going to worry about it.
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The adventure continues......2008 so far ....Rome,Italy...Kaneohe,Hawaii..Acapulco,Mexico,Switzerland......*December 2008*(RTW)-Venezuela,Easter Island........*2009*- Morocco,Egypt,Jordan,Greek Islands,Moscow..... |
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tuaris
You Clicked on the Apple
join:2001-10-19
Naples, FL
| reply to netwire
Just the mention of the FTC or BBB changed their attitude. I was able to proceed with my cancellation request and i was not held responsible for the ETF. Things ended on a good note.
I'd probably sign up with them agian if they ever decide to remove the cap. The mobile broadband service was exceptional, but $60 a month for 5GB just isn't worth it.
Thanks for all you help.
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President/CEO - Pacy World - »www.pacyworld.com |
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