Get Out Of Your Sprint Contract Fee changes should void your contract Wednesday Dec 12 2007 08:46 EDT Yesterday we mentioned that Sprint was fiddling with some of the fees on your bill. Thanks to legal pressure from a lawsuit accusing them of misleading consumers with "unfees" -- or below the line charges dressed up as government-mandated fees. Sprint is renaming several of the fees, and it would appear that this technically constitutes a change in your contract allowing you to cancel service without an early termination fee: quote: Sprint's current policy as read by account services: "On Jan. 1st 2008 Sprint customers who have been affected by the fees will have their ETF waived if they wish to terminate their contract. There will be no post-dating of cancellation where the ETF will be waived as only customers affected by the new surcharges will be eligible."
So if you've been looking for a way to ditch Sprint without penalty -- you just got one. |
moonpuppy (banned) join:2000-08-21 Glen Burnie, MD |
moonpuppy (banned)
Member
2007-Dec-12 8:50 am
They made the rules........now they have to live by them.
The SMART thing to do was to not raise any fees until people either re-signed OR they were on month to month. | |
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talz13
Member
2007-Dec-12 9:06 am
Re: They made the rules....I thought it was a fee lowering? quote: those fees [being removed] are the Federal Programs Cost Recovery (FPCR) fee of $1.55, the Federal E911 surchage of $0.40 and a Wireless Local Number Portability (WLNP) fee of $0.15.
These removed fees total $2.10. quote: Unfortunately, Sprint will be replacing those three defunct fees with two new ones; an Administrative Charge of $0.75, and a Regulatory Charge of $0.20.
These new fees total $0.95. That's a savings of $1.15 per month. If you wanted to cancel your contract anyway, it's a nice loophole to get out without an ETF, but if you're happy now, you should be more happy that you're being charged less in fees. | |
| | | SkellBasherYes Sorto, I'll take my Prozac join:2000-10-22 Niagara Falls, NY |
Re: They made the rules....It may in fact be cheaper, however for the people that are unhappy with Sprint in general, but didn't want to pay the ETF, it's a Festivus miracle. | |
| | | | n2jtx join:2001-01-13 Glen Head, NY |
n2jtx
Member
2007-Dec-12 10:43 am
Re: They made the rules....I am all for the airing of grievances! | |
| | | | | ptrowskiGot Helix? Premium Member join:2005-03-14 Woodstock, CT |
ptrowski
Premium Member
2007-Dec-13 8:43 am
Re: They made the rules....This is a great Feat of Strength for the customer! | |
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| | TMMerlinThe Devil made me do it join:2003-06-19 Oxford, MI |
to talz13
Wouldn't yah know it ..just when " I love to hate" Sprint so much they open this loop hole. Almost 5 years ago I started out with NexTel and they slipped profusely into NexHell ..then I squeezed out of that by doing a quit/sign-up on Sprint only. Signals were marginal to good at my home and general coverage was great. But I was still aggravated at dropped calls from time to time. Not a bad service but no cigar in my book.
Then, over the last six months my signal strength got significantly better and I probably have not had a dropped call from home in months.
I have never had a billing error and now my coverage is great. So all the reasons I have had to "hate Sprint" are gone and I sit here as a happy camper smoking my cigar.
And you say..they will reduce my monthly costs by a few pennies, too.
Oh well ...I believe in Sprint and I am sure they will give me a great reason in the not to distant future to "hate them again"..
Regards | |
| | | | PolarBear03The bear formerly known as aaron8301 Premium Member join:2005-01-03 |
Re: They made the rules....Ever had to call customer service? How was that? | |
| | | | | TMMerlinThe Devil made me do it join:2003-06-19 Oxford, MI |
Re: They made the rules....That's cheating ..! And I would not abuse myself that way either !!
I guess I am luky the "CS God has blessed me" so I don't have to call Sprint .. | |
| | | | | huntml join:2002-01-23 Mullica Hill, NJ 2 edits |
to PolarBear03
said by PolarBear03:Ever had to call customer service? How was that? I have had a legacy plan since 98 or so and just got a SERO 500 plan ($30 with unlimited text and data, and a Centro for $100) for the wife in Nov. In all that time, I have had to contact CC a handful of times, and the phone CC reps aren't great, I'll concede. But I figured out a long time ago to do everything non-immediate via eCare (web), and that works fine. So for billing, plan change issues, etc., I just do everything by e-mail and I've never had problems. I've even gotten credits a couple times when I wrote in to just inquire about something. For tech service issues, like reprovisioning data services, etc., I just call *2, say 'technical support,' and Claire switches me over. Unlike the general CC, Sprint's technical support people are generally pretty good, and the queues are generally not bad either. I've never had a technical issue that wasn't addressed within less than 20 minutes of wait time or so, even on holidays (I once got a new phone on Xmas day, and got it activated and the Vision (data) working within 1/2 hour of opening the box). Oh, and unlike some carriers, Sprint's technical support is 24/7, which isn't true of all of the US carriers. I don't know if VZW has 24/7 tech support or not, I'm pretty sure the nationwide GSMs do not. | |
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to PolarBear03
said by PolarBear03:Ever had to call customer service? How was that? Almost the same as dealing with AT&T, Wideopenwest, my car dealership and more recently, customer service at Checkpoint dealing with the latest crapware Zonealarm and Vista. From what I gather, it's also on par with dealing with Verizon W or T-Moble and/or Comcast. So, wanna compare notes? | |
| | | | | | PolarBear03The bear formerly known as aaron8301 Premium Member join:2005-01-03 |
Re: They made the rules....Ever called T-mobile? That is by far my definition of what telephone customer service should be. | |
| | | | | | | NwkEWRSpare Me the Marxist B.S. Premium Member join:2002-04-10 Newark, NJ |
NwkEWR
Premium Member
2007-Dec-12 10:46 pm
Re: They made the rules....said by PolarBear03:Ever called T-mobile? That is by far my definition of what telephone customer service should be. I could not disagree more with your statement, my experiences with T-Mobile's CC were so rotten that as soon as my 2 year contract ended in 2005, I immediately closed my account. I have been with VZW since June of 2005 when I consolidated my Sprint and Nextel accounts, I've only had to contact VZW's customer service 3 times in the more than 2 years that I've been with them and have received competent, professional and prompt service every time. I could get a free T-Mo Blackberry Curve via Amazon, NO THANKS, I can wait till RIM releases the curve on VZW's network either in Q1 or Q2 of 2008. T-Mo can suck my d* and so can AT&T Wireless which I dumped in 1999. My 2¢ | |
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to PolarBear03
said by PolarBear03:Ever called T-mobile? That is by far my definition of what telephone customer service should be. Nope.. but my shift partner worked for T-Mobile long enough to be a pretty good gauge on what to expect in the surrounding markets and when dealing with customer service. Less then rosy picture he painted to say the least. | |
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esc0 to talz13
Anon
2007-Dec-12 12:29 pm
to talz13
talz13,
I just looked at my December bill and how they break down these charges. I have two of the three charges you mentioned. Do I still qualify to get my ETF waived? Will I receive anything in the mail from them informing me off these changes? I have ebill sent to my email every month.
CSR sux & dropped calls have been increasing. Not to mention they want to renew contracts for every simple thing you want changed.
Below are the charges on my bill for two lines I have with Sprint.
Taxes, Surcharges & Fees ========================
Government Taxes & Fees ========================
El Paso City District Tax $0.51 El Paso City Sales Tax - Services & Usage 1.07 El Paso County Sales Tax - Services & Usage 0.51 Texas State Sales Tax - Services & Usage 6.76 Texas State Wireless 911 1.00 Texas State 911 0.19
Surcharges & Fees =================
Texas State Universal Service Fund 3.21 Federal Usf Non-ld Surcharge 1.34 Texas Margin Fee Reimbursement 1.00 Texas State Tif Reimbursement 1.23 Federal Wireless Number Pooling And Portability 0.30 Federal E911 0.80 Total $17.92 | |
| | | | huntml join:2002-01-23 Mullica Hill, NJ |
huntml
Member
2007-Dec-12 12:47 pm
Re: They made the rules....People on paper bills are supposed to be getting an insert; paperless people are supposed to be getting a postcard.
In any event,
www.sprint.com/taxesandfees
explains what will be changing, and what won't. | |
| | | | huntml 1 edit |
to esc0
said by esc0 :
CSR sux & dropped calls have been increasing. Not to mention they want to renew contracts for every simple thing you want changed.
Alas, no announcement of plans to improve their CC organizaiton, but Sprint has dropped renewals due to plan changes, and announced plans to begin prorating ETFs next year. Press release here: » forums.wirelessadvisor.c ··· act.html | |
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esc0
Anon
2007-Dec-12 6:57 pm
Re: They made the rules....huntml,
Isn't Alltel the first operator to offer this to their customers? | |
| | | | | | huntml join:2002-01-23 Mullica Hill, NJ 1 edit |
huntml
Member
2007-Dec-12 8:11 pm
Re: They made the rules....You may be right, and I think a couple other carriers (including VZW, I think) actually have already announced prorated ETFs prior to Sprint. My point wasn't that Sprint was a leader in this area -- clearly, if there is something Sprint could be called a leader in, customer services isn't it -- but that they *are* doing some things to improve in that arena. A lot of times companies need competition to force them to do things they really *should* be doing, and this is one of them. (I think the entire 2-yr deal with ETFs model used by most American carriers is abusive of the customer and should be done away with.) | |
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esc0
Anon
2007-Dec-12 9:21 pm
Re: They made the rules....huntml,
Thanks for the response and info. I do hope Sprint gets their act together for the ones that will remain with them. Even if this l00p hole doesn't help me get out of paying my ETF, I will still leave once my contract is up. I have been looking into this operator called Cricket, the only thing I wish they would add is nation wide calling area like other carriers do. Your restricted to just your city or another neighboring one closest to yours.
I have been considering going with a GSM carrier. I am also tired of calling in to have a phone activated as in the case with CDMA technology. I definitely don't want AT&T, and I have heard things about Tmobile as well. But hey, I did give Sprint close to 7 years of loyalty. | |
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to huntml
said by huntml:said by esc0 :
CSR sux & dropped calls have been increasing. Not to mention they want to renew contracts for every simple thing you want changed.
Alas, no announcement of plans to improve their CC organizaiton, but Sprint has dropped renewals due to plan changes, and announced plans to begin prorating ETFs next year. Press release here: » forums.wirelessadvisor.c ··· act.html prorating only applies to NEW plans. Not old. | |
| | | | | | huntml join:2002-01-23 Mullica Hill, NJ |
huntml
Member
2007-Dec-12 8:41 pm
Re: They made the rules....If true, that kida sucks. But it's a start. | |
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esc0 to tc1uscg
Anon
2007-Dec-12 11:36 pm
to tc1uscg
tc1uscg,
Another bomb shell they dropped on us. Oh well counting the months til end of contract. | |
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Re: They made the rules....said by esc0 :
tc1uscg,
Another bomb shell they dropped on us. Oh well counting the months til end of contract. I don't consider it a bomb shell. Heck, I've gotten 2 notices from credit card companies about how my card rate is being changed/compounded to cost me more if I carry over a balance. I've gotten a cable provider notice that my bill is going up 4 bucks and the gas prices keep going up and down then up more then down. It's a given. Why people are making such a big deal out of what Sprint is doing just proves people just want to complain about anything. My last AT&T L/L bill showed one fee went down but another is going up, killing any savings I would have noticed. I like to think of it as Sprint doing the right thing. As for the ETF's? I think we are seeing a new mindset in the wireless industry. IMO, all the wireless providers should do away with ETF's and just charge full price for the phone and let it go. Then we all can bitch about how costly our phones are and blame Sanyo, Samsung, Moto, LG and Apple for the problem. Then Sprint and others can just point at the manufactures and say, "hey, we are just resellers, it's not our fault". | |
| | | | | | | | moonpuppy (banned) join:2000-08-21 Glen Burnie, MD |
moonpuppy (banned)
Member
2007-Dec-13 9:27 am
Re: They made the rules....said by tc1uscg:I don't consider it a bomb shell. Heck, I've gotten 2 notices from credit card companies about how my card rate is being changed/compounded to cost me more if I carry over a balance. I've gotten a cable provider notice that my bill is going up 4 bucks and the gas prices keep going up and down then up more then down. It's a given. Why people are making such a big deal out of what Sprint is doing just proves people just want to complain about anything. My last AT&T L/L bill showed one fee went down but another is going up, killing any savings I would have noticed. I like to think of it as Sprint doing the right thing. As for the ETF's? I think we are seeing a new mindset in the wireless industry. IMO, all the wireless providers should do away with ETF's and just charge full price for the phone and let it go. Then we all can bitch about how costly our phones are and blame Sanyo, Samsung, Moto, LG and Apple for the problem. Then Sprint and others can just point at the manufactures and say, "hey, we are just resellers, it's not our fault". Without the discounted phones, most people would not sign up for the service which is where the cell phone companies make their money. Turn off the phone subsidy and watch people not buy all those cool Treos, Blackberrys or any other cell phone. All the cool ringtones and games will be sitting on the virtual shelf because people need to pay off the expensive phones they bought. As for the ETF's, again, the cell phone companies made their beds, now let them lie in it. I'll state my point again. If they didn't want to deal with this, they should have frozen rates for those who were still under contract and only raised them who were not under contract. Take some of that profit and invest it in a better billing system. If the cable companies and telcos (who provide video services) can set people into promotional deals for a couple of years and keep them straight (for the most part), then why can;t the cell phone companies do the same thing? | |
| | | | | | | | | huntml join:2002-01-23 Mullica Hill, NJ |
huntml
Member
2007-Dec-13 4:45 pm
Re: They made the rules....said by moonpuppy:As for the ETF's, again, the cell phone companies made their beds, now let them lie in it. I'll state my point again. If they didn't want to deal with this, they should have frozen rates for those who were still under contract and only raised them who were not under contract. Take some of that profit and invest it in a better billing system. If the cable companies and telcos (who provide video services) can set people into promotional deals for a couple of years and keep them straight (for the most part), then why can;t the cell phone companies do the same thing? I agree totally: they *do* deserve to get punished for this. In the first place, the entire practice of levying these 'unfees' is intentionally deceptive at best and maybe even fraudulent at worst, and to the guy who brought up the fact that people are talking about an ETF out but no one is discussing the fact that CUSTOMERS SHOULD BE REFUNDED THESE UNFEES BECAUSE THEY SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN LEVIED IN THE FIRST PLACE, I agree with you too. Let's see if there's a class action coming out of this, I'd certainly be a party to such given a choice. Secondly, as you say, they could have prevented this ETF loophole from opening by grandfathering in the fee structure change, the sort of thing people in other similar industries seem to be able to do. But I would hazard at a guess that at least 50% of all customer service traffic for all wireless carriers is related to billing errors; they just seem as an industry to be bad at it. And based on my reading of various carrier forums at places like HowardForums, it seems pretty clear that Sprint is by far the worst of a bad lot in this regard. So again, I suspect that they did this thing in a blanket way rather, than grandfathering it, because there was recognition at some level that if they tried to do it in the way you suggest, they'd f*** it up, and have a big pile of complaints and billing screwups piled on top of the huge pile they already have to deal with every month. I don't know. Recognizing that you are incompetent at something you should be able to do as a key part of running your business, and making a decision to not try to do something relating to that area that, if you could do it, would have a net positive effect on your business, but, since you suck, you'd probably screw up, making things even worse: is this a smart thing for management of a company to do or not? I'm not sure.... | |
| | | | | | | | | | moonpuppy (banned) join:2000-08-21 Glen Burnie, MD |
moonpuppy (banned)
Member
2007-Dec-14 7:32 am
Re: They made the rules....said by huntml:Secondly, as you say, they could have prevented this ETF loophole from opening by grandfathering in the fee structure change, the sort of thing people in other similar industries seem to be able to do. But I would hazard at a guess that at least 50% of all customer service traffic for all wireless carriers is related to billing errors; they just seem as an industry to be bad at it. And based on my reading of various carrier forums at places like HowardForums, it seems pretty clear that Sprint is by far the worst of a bad lot in this regard. So again, I suspect that they did this thing in a blanket way rather, than grandfathering it, because there was recognition at some level that if they tried to do it in the way you suggest, they'd f*** it up, and have a big pile of complaints and billing screwups piled on top of the huge pile they already have to deal with every month. I don't know. Recognizing that you are incompetent at something you should be able to do as a key part of running your business, and making a decision to not try to do something relating to that area that, if you could do it, would have a net positive effect on your business, but, since you suck, you'd probably screw up, making things even worse: is this a smart thing for management of a company to do or not? I'm not sure.... As I said earlier, if other companies can do it, so can Sprint. Telcos and cable companies do discount bundles all day long. Even the cell phone companies can keep track of your contract and when to charge you an ETF. If they can do that, then different plans and bundles shouldn't be an issue at all. If your company has systemic problems with billing, then you need to rectify those issues. How much extra money is it costing your company to hire extra CS agents to fix those same billing issues? Did Sprint really save any money by getting rid of all those who called in with billing issues? | |
| | | | | | | | | | huntml join:2002-01-23 Mullica Hill, NJ |
huntml
Member
2007-Dec-14 8:59 am
Re: They made the rules....said by moonpuppy:As I said earlier, if other companies can do it, so can Sprint. Telcos and cable companies do discount bundles all day long. Even the cell phone companies can keep track of your contract and when to charge you an ETF. If they can do that, then different plans and bundles shouldn't be an issue at all. You'd think so, wouldn't you? quote: If your company has systemic problems with billing, then you need to rectify those issues. How much extra money is it costing your company to hire extra CS agents to fix those same billing issues? Did Sprint really save any money by getting rid of all those who called in with billing issues?
No disagreement here. Those of us with Sprint service have been scratching our heads at the company's inability to execute in this area for years. | |
| | | | | | | | | | moonpuppy (banned) join:2000-08-21 Glen Burnie, MD |
moonpuppy (banned)
Member
2007-Dec-14 10:24 am
Re: They made the rules....said by huntml:No disagreement here. Those of us with Sprint service have been scratching our heads at the company's inability to execute in this area for years. It all becomes a question of how much companies want to spend and what they think they will save if they don't spend. And it's funny to hear the cable techs complain about the CSRs putting "single outlet install" on the ticket and they get to the location and the customer wants a DVR, 2 boxes and HSI. You would think a company that sells communications to practice it a bit themselves. | |
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to moonpuppy
said by moonpuppy Without the discounted phones, most people would not sign up for the service which is where the cell phone companies make their money. Turn off the phone subsidy and watch people not buy all those cool Treos, Blackberrys or any other cell phone. All the cool ringtones and games will be sitting on the virtual shelf because people need to pay off the expensive phones they bought. [/BQUOTE :I disagree. Are you saying that you would not have a cell phone if you had to pay 200 bucks for one? You wouldn't be under a contract. You could go to anyone else you wanted at any time but you would have to buy a new phone. See, I think thats the problem. People like you think the phones should be free, the service should be dirt cheap or free and you should still have 110% customer service. We made the industry the way it is, not the companies. We drove them to this "500 dollar phone for 100 bucks, if you sign a 2 year stay with us contract".. People are so caught up in this FREE/Get all I can get for nothing mindset. No, we made the bed. We allowed it and now people are fed up, cell phone providers are killing themselves trying to fix it and people still bitch. I'll be looking for your treo on ebay... | |
| | | | | | | | | | moonpuppy (banned) join:2000-08-21 Glen Burnie, MD |
moonpuppy (banned)
Member
2007-Dec-14 8:06 am
Re: They made the rules....said by tc1uscg:I disagree. Are you saying that you would not have a cell phone if you had to pay 200 bucks for one? You wouldn't be under a contract. You could go to anyone else you wanted at any time but you would have to buy a new phone. See, I think thats the problem. People like you think the phones should be free, the service should be dirt cheap or free and you should still have 110% customer service. We made the industry the way it is, not the companies. We drove them to this "500 dollar phone for 100 bucks, if you sign a 2 year stay with us contract".. People are so caught up in this FREE/Get all I can get for nothing mindset. No, we made the bed. We allowed it and now people are fed up, cell phone providers are killing themselves trying to fix it and people still bitch. I'll be looking for your treo on ebay... So many assumptions. I remember the days of the mobile phone with operators. Those phones weren't cheap and neither was the service. Next came the cellular system. My first phone was a car model with a massive battery pack to make it portable. I paid $14.99/month to Bell Atlantic Mobile for 200 off-peak minutes. Peak minutes were $0.65/min. Then Sprint Spectrum came in and made another network and everyone followed suit. Phones were still around $100-$200. Plans were getting cheaper and more people signed up. Now, we have free phones and plans that have better pricing than some home phone plans. Have you priced a phone without a contract? It is anywhere from $300 to $350 more. Do you seriously think the cell phone culture would be where it is right now had it not been for these discounted phones? Do you really think the cell phone companies make money off of the phones? Service is where the money is and that's where the cell phone companies focus their energy. I have 2 T-Mobile Sidekicks. If I had to pay $600 for the phones, I would not be subscribing to the unlimited email, text messaging and a big bucket of minutes. Sure, I have a 1 year contract but I intend to keep the phone for that long. Had the cell phone company not done the deals for handsets to get people signed up, we wouldn't be talking about this now. They wanted the customers, now they have to deal with it. Customer service is part of that equation. Don't sell something you have no intention of providing. | |
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Re: They made the rules....That's why the likes of Sprint, VZW and ATTM should STOP selling phones and let the manufactures sell the phones. They could "sell" the phones for them but at a price FIXED by the manufacture and stop subsidizing. Look at game systems. The PS3, 360 and Wii are pretty much the same price no matter where you go but you can get them from anyone who has shelf space. Sprint can sell you a Centro for whatever Palm says, you just pay Sprint for use of it's network. That way people like you and I don't have to worry about waiting for our 2 years to end before we can get an update. If having the latest and greatest is THAT important, we can shell out bucks and buy what we want, when we want. IF we don't like our provider, we can go somewhere else. Problem for us, the majority of us don't want to do go down that path. We can still buy insurance in case we loose our phone or break it outside the 1 year warranty but people seem to think cell companies should service the phones, and should kiss our ass everytime we walk in with a problem with the phone. | |
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| | QumahlinNever Enough Time MVM join:2001-10-05 united state |
to talz13
Can I really get happier over the fact that a company was caught deliberately misleading customers and now they are removing fees they technically shouldn't have been charging in the first place?
I guess I should be happier that they are no longer lying and making the fees out to be something required by the government... | |
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| | huntml join:2002-01-23 Mullica Hill, NJ |
to moonpuppy
quote: ....now they have to live by them.
Absolutely. I am so glad that one of the companies charging these fraudulent/misleading 'unfees' got called on it. It's only a matter of time before this spreads across the wireless and wireline industries (many if not most companies in telephony employing similar tactics) and this practice is done away with. Good news for the consumer, for once. quote: The SMART thing to do was to not raise any fees until people either re-signed OR they were on month to month.
Maybe. But (1) one thing one cannot accuse Sprint's management of since the Nextel debacle is being smart; (2) maybe they were afraid that if they tried make this change on a customer-by-customer basis, the complexity would add to their problems with their already ongoing billing system integration/change, which is already a disaster, by many accounts. | |
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Kord
Member
2007-Dec-12 9:04 am
Terminate Sprint?quote: So if you've been looking for a way to ditch Sprint without penalty -- you just got one.
And do what go back to Hughes crap satellite, no thanks. | |
| | •••••••••• | HarleyYacLee Premium Member join:2001-10-13 Allendale, NJ |
Could be!Hi, I went from Nextel to Sprint because of the ETF. Sprint is better but not by much. Here in NNJ VZ has the Network and Rep in place too. Lee | |
| | •••••••••••••••••• | bnceo join:2007-10-11 Bel Air, MD |
bnceo
Member
2007-Dec-12 10:56 am
HmmDo we have to cancel on Jan 1? And when you cancel, can you take your phone number with you?
I want my 3G & GPS iPhone DAMNIT! | |
| | ••• | tenpin784I Went To The Dark Side? join:2001-03-30 Brierfield, AL |
nextelthis cover nextel users too??
I have nextel up here in NH, and they're service isnt that bad, actually has service where VZ doesn't in a few places.
Can I get out of the contract and go month to month?? Contracts suck, but I dont want to leave, just want out of the contract. | |
| | huntml join:2002-01-23 Mullica Hill, NJ |
huntml
Member
2007-Dec-12 12:42 pm
Re: nextelFrom what I am reading it is probably going to affect Nextel-side subs too, but I'm not super-familiar with Nextel (I carry one but don't pay for it ) so I'd seek further infomation (e.g., sprintusers, howardforums, etc.). One thing I do know is there is probably going to be no getting out of your contract and going month-to-month. It'll either be get out with no ETF in a 30-day window after the changes go into effect, or continue paying your bill, signifying implicit acceptance of the change, and finish out your contract. | |
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Yay!GSM towers are FINALLY going up in the small town I live in, and a new carrier is coming to town - Centennial Wireless. They have good service. Apparently not all the towers are up, but the ones that are work fine because a friend came from out of town with centennial and he had excellent reception.
Now I can drop my verizon phone and the sprint as well and do a family plan.
Can't say that I've had too many problems with Sprint, but if there's a better carrier in town I'm gonna jump ship. The free m2m and texting is a HUGE bonus for me and my woman. | |
| | huntml join:2002-01-23 Mullica Hill, NJ |
huntml
Member
2007-Dec-12 1:09 pm
Re: Yay!Good for you. I hope it works out. What we need is more competition: the GSMs putting pressure on the CDMAs to offer more open network usage and device choice, etc.; the CDMAs putting pressure on the GSMs to build out their networks and provide fuller coverage/roaming arrangements, etc.; the carriers with good customer service putting pressure on the carriers who suck at it.
This seems finally to be happening, and I think that we all as consumers will benefit from it. | |
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Would I be eligible?I've always wondered about my fees. So how about my fees? Am I a part of this Sprint ordeal? I'm already paying up the rear with sprint and have been shafted by them on numerous occasions. I would love to go to Verizon but I still have another year left on my contract with Sprint. My girlfriends Mom works for Verizon so I'd b eligible for their discount. Here are my fees from my very last bill: | |
| | huntml join:2002-01-23 Mullica Hill, NJ |
huntml
Member
2007-Dec-12 3:22 pm
Re: Would I be eligible?Short answer: probably, but you have to be careful about how/when you do it -- you'll have to contact Sprint and request contract determination *after* the new fees are assessed but before you pay that bill, etc.
As an aside, most of those things you listed look like 'real' surcharges, which are not the subject of the announced change.
Blame the city and the state, not Sprint, for that stuff.
To get more info, reference the consumerist link in the story, which links to a long sprintusers thread. Lots of info there. | |
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to crazyjeeper
Of Course both of my Sprint PCS lines have the normal "Government Fees & Taxes"
Bradenton Local Communications Service Tax $7.70 Florida State Communications Service Tax $11.68 Florida State Wireless 911 $1.00 ----------------------------------------------------------
Surcharges & Fees Federal USF Non-Ld Surcharge $2.88 Federal Wireless Number Pooling A Portability $0.30 Federal E911 $0.80 -------- $24.36
Switched from Nextel in July of 2006 after being with Nextel since 1999
Both of my phones have the SERO 1250 Plan. | |
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Damn after 10 yearsI could leave sprint and move on. I only have one line under contract. | |
| dc4072 join:2000-09-12 Ashburn, VA |
dc4072
Member
2007-Dec-13 2:11 am
Getting out of your sprint contractDoes this applies to my Nextel bill also ? Or just with Sprint bill customers ? | |
| | JBP7 Premium Member join:2007-06-01 Piedmont, AL |
JBP7
Premium Member
2007-Dec-13 5:15 pm
Re: Getting out of your sprint contractI have been looking for a way to get away from Nexhell for a while now and this has been a ray of hope.. I called yesterday after reading this article and following some of the links to get more information, the forum link from the consumerist was really helpful.
Anyway I was able to finally cancel my contract without an early termination fee. And in response to the last post, Nextel will let you out since that is the carrier I had until yesterday. Just be patient, you will probably have to call multiple times but just be polite and explain to them and stand your ground. It can be done. | |
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ETF UPDATEGuys, Please follow the link below and read the reply I got from ecare about the fees they were illegally charging us and how I told them that the new fees are "material" change. It seems they will let me out of my contract with no "ETF'. Will update once I receive a reply from another agent that they escalated my case to. Below is the link with the update. Goodluck to all. » ETF Update | |
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