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Sprint Modifies Their 'Unfees'
Feeling the heat from Missouri lawsuit?

"I will see your 3 un-fees and raise you 2 new un-fees," jokes site member kapil See Profile, who alerts us that Sprint is changing up their fee structure in time for the new year. As we'll explore below the break, the company is reacting to legal pressure for their long-standing (and industry-wide) practice of misleading consumers into thinking certain fees are government mandated.

Sprint is sending out notices to phone and data customers, letting them know that Sprint will be removing three fees from customer bills. In Kapil's case, those fees 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.

Click for full size
Luckily, Kapil gets a slightly lower bill starting in January. 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. Sprint explains the fees this way in the alert sent out to customers:
quote:
Sprint Nextel is charging the Administrative Charge to help defray various costs imposed on us by ther telecommunications carriers, including, but not limited to, charges imposed by local telephone companies for delivery of calls from our customers to their landline customers and for certain network facilities and services we must purchase from them. The Regulatory Charge is being assessed to help defray the costs of various federal, state, and local regulatory programs. These charges are not taxes and are not amounts we are required to collect from you.
Though industry execs, investors and employees swear on their mothers' graves that these fees are necessary and legitimate, "Regulatory Recovery" fees are a sleazy way of burying a business cost below the line so it can be excluded from the advertised price of a service. We've watched this practice drift from the landline industry to the wireless and VoIP industries while federal lawmakers napped.

Click for full size
Sprint isn't suffering from a bout of spontaneous good will. The company was sued (pdf) by Missouri's Attorney General back in 2002 for misleading consumers into thinking these fees are government mandated. With the case still pending, Sprint is stripping the word "Federal" from all of their fees to protect their legal, err, assets.

In addition to record-low customer satisfaction levels due to their troubled merger with Nextel, Sprint isn't having much fun in the courts of late. They were recently sued by the Minnesota Attorney General for quietly extending customer contracts every time users made even minor changes to their service plan. They've also just been sued by a California consumer advocacy group for improperly applying fees to data card customer bills.

Back to the unfees; on the federal level, we recently saw some potential legislation aimed at curtailing the practice, but the Cell Phone Consumer Empowerment Act of 2007 hasn't seen progress since being introduced last September. Says bill sponsor Senator Amy Klobuchar of the practice of imposing "unfees":
quote:
"Anyone who’s looked at a cell phone bill knows it’s a hodge-podge of fees and surcharges that supposedly cover regulatory or administrative costs," said Rockefeller. "The reality is, often these are nothing more than operating costs that the companies are passing on to the consumer disguised as fees and taxes. It’s high time to protect cell phone users from these deceptive billing practices."
Unfortunately, the strength of telecom lobbyist operations has made getting any consumer friendly legislation passed almost impossible, so we'd expect this bill (which also takes aim at early termination fees) to have a steep uphill battle. By the way, we've started charging heavy BroadbandReports.com forum posters a "Winter transmission fee" (WTF); we hope nobody minds.
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amejr999
Eric
Premium Member
join:2001-01-13
Orlando, FL

amejr999

Premium Member

administrative charge?

Are they kidding me? Who comes up with that name?

Robert
Premium Member
join:2001-08-25
Miami, FL

Robert

Premium Member

Re: administrative charge?

said by amejr999:

Are they kidding me? Who comes up with that name?
A recent Harvard Grad looking to score points with the big guys.. and it works.

tc1uscg
join:2005-03-09
Gulfport, MS

tc1uscg to amejr999

Member

to amejr999
said by amejr999:

Are they kidding me? Who comes up with that name?
HOLY CRAP. So what? They are renaming fees to make people with a 3rd grade education understand what they are paying every month. Crap.. you should look at my natural gas bill. I pay a "delivery charge" and a "billing/administrative fee" In the summer, my "fees" for my NG is more then the gas itself. What would you people want Sprint to call it? "Pass the buck charge"? Or hows this. "Just because we can charge" or "The FCC told us not too but we are anyway recover fee".
alpha1111
join:2007-12-13
San Antonio, TX

alpha1111

Member

Re: administrative charge?

make up a fake address for them to send the bill I did when I was living in Houston, Texas they were about 10 to 12 fees on my bill, try baton rouge louisiana 70808 like an address like 5500 goverment street and sign up for online billing with on line payment as long as you can print your bill in the computer and pay it via online or sprint store youll be fine plus you will be saving a crapload of money. legal? yes homeless do it all the time define residence?

Moral? probally not but their not. So it makes it right.
besides im not religious and hate people like jerry fartwell (burn in hell)

UCAN
@rr.com

1 recommendation

UCAN to amejr999

Anon

to amejr999
The California consumer group referred to is the Utility Consumers' Action Network (UCAN) in San Diego, California.

I am the attorney for UCAN, and wanted to remind everyone that they can see the specifics of our federal complaint, as well as news updates on the case at our website, UCAN.org.

»ucan.org/telecommunicati ··· es_plans
phantom6294
join:2002-02-27
Abingdon, MD

phantom6294

Member

I have a question...

"These charges are not taxes and are not amounts we are required to collect from you."

Does that mean we are not required to pay them????

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5

Premium Member

Unfees are marketing/lobbying efforts against regulation

All unfees are is an attempt by phone companies to bring to the attention of their customers the underlying costs in meeting government regulations. They could just bury the fees in the price of the service, but this way they agressively keep in front of their customers that part of their costs that are incurred as a result of government regulation.

Just see it as advertising and not some attempt to deceive the public.

PhoenixDown
FIOS is Awesome
Premium Member
join:2003-06-08
Fresh Meadows, NY

PhoenixDown

Premium Member

Re: Unfees are marketing/lobbying efforts against regulation

They can add it above the line... which means they would have to advertise that this is part of the rate but at least it would be honest.

Monthly Recurring Charge - $40.00
Text Messaging Plan - $10.00
Unlimited Data - $20.00
Administrative Costs - $5.00
----------------------------------
SubTotal - $75.00
Tax - $1.80
----------------------------------
Total $76.80

DotMac4
Shill H8r
Premium Member
join:2007-10-26
Huntington Beach, CA

1 edit

3 recommendations

DotMac4 to FFH5

Premium Member

to FFH5
Bullshit, it's an attempt by phone companies to lie about the costs of their service.

They'll advertise an artificially low price then charge these bullcrap fees.

ALL businesses have regulatory costs, ALL of them do. Telcos are just one of the few (another being airlines) who itemize it in attempt to bait and switch on customers.

Why not just have all costs of doing business itemized on our bills?

How about the water cooler recovery fee?
How about a parking lot restriping recovery fee?
How about an obscene retirement package for our CEO recovery fee?

Nope. This is telcos wanting to lie in advertising saying they're selling a service for $29.99 when it's really $40.

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

1 edit

FFH5

Premium Member

Re: Unfees are marketing/lobbying efforts against regulation

said by DotMac4:

ALL businesses have regulatory costs, ALL of them do. Telcos are just one of the few who itemize it in attempt to bait and switch on customers.

Why not just have all costs of doing business itemized on our bills?

How about the water cooler recovery fee?
How about a parking lot restriping recovery fee?
How about an obscene retirement package for our CEO recovery fee?
I agree that a breakdown of all costs would be interesting. In fact, you can see these anytime you want by reading a company's SEC filings.

But aside from the obscene CEO pkgs , a company can do little about most of those costs. But they can lobby for less gov't regulation which is an unnecessary cost as far as I am concerned. And the unfees is a way they try to get their customers on their side in that effort.

DotMac4
Shill H8r
Premium Member
join:2007-10-26
Huntington Beach, CA

1 recommendation

DotMac4

Premium Member

Re: Unfees are marketing/lobbying efforts against regulation

Why when they could put it right on the bill with all of the other BS itemizing.

This has nothing with telcos "campaigning" for lower government regulation and everything about them wanting to advertise stuff for less than the real price.

It's just like the "number portability fee" that netted companies like Sprint $60 million a year.

Truth in advertising whether it's about stupid caps and traffic shaping or what stuff costs.

My cable HSI for example is exactly to the penny the price I was quoted by Time Warner when I ordered online.

Online they quoted the price as $44.95 plus $10.00 for the extreme tier. When I get my bill it's $44.95 plus $10 for the extreme tier...no junk fees, unfees or other lies.

Compare that to my Verizon DSL bill where I had just for DSL, a nrecovery fee that amounted to nearly 10% of my service cost. And this was a different recovery fee from one charged on the POTS portion of that same copper. »BellSouth, Speakeasy join Verizon on Bogus 'Fees' [59] comments

Telcos much be compelled to do the same as cable. If it's a REAL tax 100% of which is paid DIRECTLY to a state board or equalization (eg a sales tax) then yeah, itemize it 'cause the customer isn't paying it to the telco...every penny goes to the state. But these other BS "recovery" fees must go as they're a cost of business like all other overhead.
mikenolan7
Premium Member
join:2005-06-07
Torrance, CA

mikenolan7

Premium Member

Re: Unfees are marketing/lobbying efforts against regulation

You mean they are charging "recovery" fees to their customers for their network? They same networks that we are repeatedly reminded in posts here that "belong to the ISP's"?
Expand your moderator at work

bigpapap3213
@verizon.net

bigpapap3213 to DotMac4

Anon

to DotMac4

Re: Unfees are marketing/lobbying efforts against regulation

what are you talking about, you are surely mistaken.

On my Time warner cable bill I have a $4.14 franchise fee, and a $.06 fcc regulatory fee.

And I dont even have telephone line with them.

DotMac4
Shill H8r
Premium Member
join:2007-10-26
Huntington Beach, CA

DotMac4

Premium Member

Re: Unfees are marketing/lobbying efforts against regulation

Franchises fees are only for television services and go to the local gov't much like a tax. I don't know what your FCC regulatory fee is. It sure sounds like a bullcrap un-fee and I don't have such a fee on my bill. But I only have HSI, no telephony or CATV.
alpha1111
join:2007-12-13
San Antonio, TX

alpha1111 to DotMac4

Member

to DotMac4
My cable HSI for example is exactly to the penny the price I was quoted by Time Warner when I ordered online.

Online they quoted the price as $44.95 plus $10.00 for the extreme tier. When I get my bill it's $44.95 plus $10 for the extreme tier...no junk fees, unfees or other lies.

Are you billed an FCC fee? and I Franchise Fee?
Time Warner San Antonio Customers are, and Comcast In Houston is worse.

I will not get time warner because they took channel 20 public access off basic cable but still bill you for the service (paying for services I don't get) you have to have their BS box $7.99 and Digital Cable another $5 to get that one channel. I wonder if Dave Leitt's Worst show is still on that channel I remember back then when they were Paragon TJ Connally (the peeper) made a big stink about him circa 1996.

I wont pay sprint to have a equalizer for the 911 they can have bass in it if an emergency strikes.

DotMac4
Shill H8r
Premium Member
join:2007-10-26
Huntington Beach, CA

DotMac4

Premium Member

Re: Unfees are marketing/lobbying efforts against regulation

No. Those fees apply only to CATV service I guess. My HSI bill only has my HSI fees which are exactly what I was quoted. And certainly no junk "un" fees.

supergirl
join:2007-03-20
Pensacola, FL

supergirl to FFH5

Member

to FFH5
Funny, my Cox Digital Voice, Cable, and HSI was quoted to the penny including tax.

BellSouth has a "hurricane cost recovery fee", a "regulatory cost recovery fee" (on each item - one on regular phone and one on LD). Why do they need a "hurricane cost recovery fee?"

So, Bellsouth called and asked why I left so I told them:

Outrageous prices. (Gave them Cox vs. them)

Better features. (12/1 HSI vs. 3/512, view calls online,
listen to voicemail online and can download them, etc.)

NO India HSI tech support! (I said I like buying American and Cox is all in America. Shouldn't I support fellow Americans keeping their jobs? Cox does and charges less so what is your problem?)

I also told her about Bellsouth reps "lying about prices" and "discounts" and told her, if I wanted it, I always ordered it online. Cox has never lied to me about prices. I did report the fraud to a manager after the PSC was contacted. All this lady did was try and lie about the other person's lies. So, I told her the manager that wrote her up didn't buy the lies either. Complete choice and Unlimited LD gets you NO discounts on DSL ($10 was what I was told). The stupid person also decided to send me a new modem. Even the manager was pissed about that. I threatened a "mail fraud" charge if I got the modem charge on my bill. The manager, in Miami, gave me his personal number and I never saw it show up.

Oh, ya gotta love the billing system.

I got a final bill with a refund.

Then, about 1 1/2 months later, I got another bill with charges. So, I called and the lady took it right off. $18 for LD. I said, "I got a final bill with a refund, even called to find out my final bill was correct, you said it was, cashed the refund check, and will not pay Bellsouth a tip for taking 10 days to allow my number to port."

hurfy
Premium Member
join:2002-08-06
Spokane, WA

hurfy to DotMac4

Premium Member

to DotMac4
Exactly

The best one i see is our bill from XO. They are 10% cheaper than qwest for local phone service. Just don't mind the 12% 'Access Recovery' fee tacked on. Plus a whole slew of other fees.

AT&T was still adding a line for property tax when we dropped them. This was ruled against in WA. Guess they have more legislators in their pocket than the car dealers that got nailed with it :/

pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium Member
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD

1 recommendation

pnh102 to FFH5

Premium Member

to FFH5
said by FFH5:

All unfees are is an attempt by phone companies to bring to the attention of their customers the underlying costs in meeting government regulations
The problem is that the cell phone industry is getting away with a practice that few other companies can get away with. If I go to a grocery store to buy something, I see the price that is charged, and I pay a sales tax. I know that the grocery store has fixed costs imposed on it by the government, such as minimum wages, fire safety codes, health and safety requirements for food and the like. However, when I go to buy a given item at the store, these costs are included in the price.

If I wanted, I could look at other stores carrying similar items, and comparison shop based on price, knowing that another store isn't showing an artificially low price that includes an "unfee."
said by FFH5:

Just see it as advertising and not some attempt to deceive the public.
But the end result is that the public is being deceived. The only way I could find out what the "true" cost of cell phone service is would be to try out each provider and then cancel within the allotted time frame, provided it doesn't expire before I receive my first bill.

If the advertised price for cell phone service, less actual taxes that go directly into government coffers (as I could look these up if I wanted), was listed, then it makes shopping around for cell phone service much easier. Otherwise, I see the day coming when each company would offer service for one penny a month, and not mention the $50 or so in fees that are added to that.

joako
Premium Member
join:2000-09-07
/dev/null

joako to FFH5

Premium Member

to FFH5
No, you are wrong. Per Sprint "charges imposed by local telephone companies for delivery of calls from our customers to their landline customers" AKA call termination costs.

How is that not part of your per-minute charge?

cdigioia
Premium Member
join:2005-06-08
korea, repub

cdigioia to FFH5

Premium Member

to FFH5
Yeah right I highly doubt they've computed the cost of government regulations, then distributed that number to customers.

Besides, if it were just advertising, then it would be:

450 Anytimes minutes: $45 ($5 of which is due to gov. regulation)

I mean come on, a store doesn't advertise

"Dress $50", then when you pay, see a bill for:
federally mandated corporate income tax: $4
federally mandated social security tax: $3
OHSA cost recovery charge: $2
minimum wage compliance charge of $6
city-mandated earthquake readiness construction charge: $1


No, they say, the dress is $50. Typically, it's a good thing when the advertised price of a good is...I don't know, the price the seller wants you to pay them for that good.

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium Member
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

dvd536

Premium Member

Re: Unfees are marketing/lobbying efforts against regulation

said by cdigioia:

Yeah right I highly doubt they've computed the cost of government regulations, then distributed that number to customers.

Besides, if it were just advertising, then it would be:

450 Anytimes minutes: $45 ($5 of which is due to gov. regulation)

I mean come on, a store doesn't advertise

"Dress $50", then when you pay, see a bill for:
federally mandated corporate income tax: $4
federally mandated social security tax: $3
OHSA cost recovery charge: $2
minimum wage compliance charge of $6
city-mandated earthquake readiness construction charge: $1


No, they say, the dress is $50. Typically, it's a good thing when the advertised price of a good is...I don't know, the price the seller wants you to pay them for that good.
Well the store down the street could have the same dress for $33.99 then add in all those crap fees and guess who'll sell more dresses even though out the door with either you've spent $50.

cdigioia
Premium Member
join:2005-06-08
korea, repub

cdigioia

Premium Member

Re: Unfees are marketing/lobbying efforts against regulation

said by dvd536:

Well the store down the street could have the same dress for $33.99 then add in all those crap fees and guess who'll sell more dresses even though out the door with either you've spent $50.
Yup, good for the company that does it, bad for everyone else = negative externalities. That's why such things need to be regulated.

And man...I really liked my post, I was hoping for at least one thumbs up, *sniffle*, *sniffle*.

asdfdfdfdfdf
@Level3.net

asdfdfdfdfdf

Anon

Re: Unfees are marketing/lobbying efforts against regulation

I'll give you a thumbs up.
And pnh too.

tc1uscg
join:2005-03-09
Gulfport, MS

tc1uscg to cdigioia

Member

to cdigioia
said by cdigioia:

Yeah right I highly doubt they've computed the cost of government regulations, then distributed that number to customers.

Besides, if it were just advertising, then it would be:

450 Anytimes minutes: $45 ($5 of which is due to gov. regulation)

I mean come on, a store doesn't advertise

"Dress $50", then when you pay, see a bill for:
federally mandated corporate income tax: $4
federally mandated social security tax: $3
OHSA cost recovery charge: $2
minimum wage compliance charge of $6
city-mandated earthquake readiness construction charge: $1


No, they say, the dress is $50. Typically, it's a good thing when the advertised price of a good is...I don't know, the price the seller wants you to pay them for that good.
Whoa.. hold on there cowpoke. They don't have them OSHA and minimum wage charges in China. What I would like to see is "Profit our company is making by making this crap in china vs the United States". That would be the REQUIREMENT for doing business overseas.

netwire
Premium Member
join:2001-04-27
Dallas, NC

netwire

Premium Member

Uncluding?

quote:
Sprint Nextel is charging the Administrative Charge to help defray various costs imposed on us by ther telecommunications carriers, uncluding
raythompsontn
join:2001-01-11
Oliver Springs, TN

raythompsontn

Member

What idiot wrote that piece....

"defray various costs imposed on us by ther telecommunications carriers, uncluding, but not limited to"

Surprise, surprise, the term in bold will show up in a google search. Is that a new term for excluding? Or is just a stupid copy editor?

Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02

Karl Bode

News Guy

Re: What idiot wrote that piece....

A user who sent in the notice had transcribed it wrong. The fault though belongs to the idiot copy editor, and it has been corrected.
rmrper
join:2006-06-13
Wylie, TX

rmrper

Member

Re: What idiot wrote that piece....

Gee my sprint bill is going up. They say they are removing the $0.40 E911 fee and the $0.15 WLNP fee, but adding the two mentioned above, so I see an increase. Lovely.

SOLdesign
Did I drink a shot of Irrational Whore?
Premium Member
join:2002-07-29
Woodland Hills, CA

SOLdesign

Premium Member

I may be wrong

I may be wrong, but since they are changing the terms of the contract, doesn't that mean you can call in and renegotiate also?

I call in each year anyway and renegotiate, and we save. There are always new plans/combos that will work to your benefit. Since we have no home phone, we save in the end on total costs.

MrMoody
Free range slave
Premium Member
join:2002-09-03
Smithfield, NC

MrMoody

Premium Member

Re: I may be wrong

This is another purpose of bogus fees. They are outside the contracted price, so allowing the carrier to change the price of service during the term of the contract.

jgkolt
Premium Member
join:2004-02-21
Avon, OH

jgkolt

Premium Member

customer service woes because {fill in here}

"In addition to record-low customer satisfaction levels due to their troubled merger with Nextel,..."

They had horrible customer service before the merger. the merger was just the largest recent action they can blame it on. Remember some of thier other errors where they billed people for phones started from when they ordered them online not when they activated in the users hand? I do . And not refunding them but charging the user the whole time and EVEN IF THE PHONE DIDNT WORK AND IT WAS BEING RETURNED. I do

MrMoody
Free range slave
Premium Member
join:2002-09-03
Smithfield, NC
Netgear CM500
Asus RT-AC68

MrMoody

Premium Member

Re: customer service woes because {fill in here}

said by jgkolt:

They had horrible customer service before the merger. the merger was just the largest recent action they can blame it on.
You got that right. Nextel customer service was much better before Sprint bought them.

jgkolt
Premium Member
join:2004-02-21
Avon, OH

jgkolt

Premium Member

Re: customer service woes because {fill in here}

It is a failed merger. They should cut their losses and do this. Get new phones for every nextel subscriber within the first year of integration. Power down the nextel sites, and sell off the technology. Why up your operating costs and continue to lose subscribers. They went WAY too slowly to integrate them together and they are feeling the pain. They wanted the business users so why didnt they get the subscribers? they could sell of the technology, consolidate, finance the needed build out to cover nextel areas not in sprints network and subsidize the sprint phones. this also assumes that there are comparable phones on sprints network that want. what do you guys think.
slckusr
Premium Member
join:2003-03-17
Greenville, SC

slckusr

Premium Member

and the world rolls on

its just a dollar or two. i commend them for being up front and not trying to hide their bull s..! charges behind the government.
bored_in_nh
join:2003-01-04
Stamping Ground, KY

bored_in_nh

Member

so how come ...

How come the big uproar over these "unfees" and no mention of ISPs and thr USF and other additional costs that they charge? Covad doesn't charge the USF. They count it as a cost of doing business. Yet Speakeasy, when they re-sell Covad, charges USF. How come nobody sues for that?

My 2 cents
@chase.com

My 2 cents

Anon

Their marketing plan

Sign up now for your FREE* Unlimited** Nation-wide coverage*** cell phone plan. No cost deluxe phone included if you sign up now (some conditions apply). Other charges and conditions may also apply.

* No monthly fee, but $99.99 administration fee and $50.01 taxes and special charges due monthly.

** Unlimited calling only applicable to calls made to our selected partners featured numbers (per minute fees will appear on your bill for their use as a service to you). All other calls will be billed at a rate of $0.05 - $9.99 per whole or fraction of a minute (depending on our management bonus plan in affect at the time).

*** Roaming and other charges will be assessed while using affiliated networks. Our nation-wide network includes 95% coverage of the Nation-wide building in Truth or Consequences, NM. Please note that only employees will be allowed in.

No cost deluxe phone requires immediate payment of $250 new client fee, $150 new account fee, and $99.95 phone activation fee ($50 mail in rebate available for those who qualify). Other phones (including those with buttons to dial instead of whistling the correct tones to dial) available at an extra charge.

MrMoody
Free range slave
Premium Member
join:2002-09-03
Smithfield, NC
Netgear CM500
Asus RT-AC68

MrMoody

Premium Member

Re: Their marketing plan

said by My 2 cents :

* No monthly fee, but administration fee, taxes and special charges due monthly. These fees are currently $99.99 and $50.01 but are subject to change without notice. 2 year commitment required.
There, I fixed it for you.

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium Member
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

dvd536

Premium Member

I got an idea

Sprint how about PAYING YOUR OWN COSTS OF RUNNING YOUR BUSINESS.
if its not enough, jack your rates on the service not add in more bullshit fees!

VR Laura
Queen Of Cyberspace
Premium Member
join:2002-02-10
NYC

3 edits

VR Laura

Premium Member

The 12 fees on my Sprint bill

I have Sprint for cellphone service only. Note, I'm out-of-contract.

My current plan is $35/mo for 300 minutes, plus unlimited after 9pm and on weekends and holidays.

GOVERNMENT FEES & TAXES
Queens City Sales Tax - Services & Usage: $1.20
New York State Sales Tax - Services & Usage: $1.10
New York State Wireless 911: $1.20
Queens County Wireless 911: $.30

SURCHARGES & FEES
Queens County Special Fee: $.22
Queens County Surcharge: $.03
Queens County License Tax Surcharge: $.52
New York State Gross Receipts Surcharge: $.10
New York State Excise Tax Surcharge: $.95
Federal USF Non-LD Surcharge: $.88
Federal Wireless Number Pooling & Portability: $.15
Federal E911: $.40

TOTAL SERVICE CHARGES: $35.00
TOTAL TAXES, SURCHARGES & FEES: $7.05
GRAND TOTAL: $42.05

Do you folks in "Middle America" have that many fees, or is this something unique to New Yorkers?

•••

JimmyZ
@verizon.net

JimmyZ

Anon

Additional Sprint Charges

Yep we all get hosed on the additional fees, not just you NYers.

---------------------------------
Sprint Employee Referral Fair and Flexible - 500 Anytime Minutes Included $30.00
Additional Sprint Charges. $3.12
Government Taxes & Fees $3.13
Total $36.25

Additional Sprint Charges
Federal-Fed. 911 Fee $0.40
Federal-Fed. Local Number Portability - $0.15
Federal-Univ Serv Assess Non-LD - $0.77
Texas State-Infrastructure Reimburse - $0.39
Texas State-Margin Fee Reimbursement - $0.29
Texas State-Univ Serv Assessment - $1.12

Government Fees & Taxes
Taxes and fees Sprint is required to collect from customers on behalf of the government.
Texas State-911 Taxes - $0.50
Texas State-Equalization Surcharge - $0.08
Texas State-Sales Tax - $2.06
College Station City-Sales Tax - $0.49
alpha1111
join:2007-12-13
San Antonio, TX

alpha1111

Member

Re: Additional Sprint Charges

I don't get hosed I live in Texas but I maded up a address in Louisiana

Government Fees & Taxes

Louisiana State Sales Tax - Services & Usage $1.05
East Baton Rouge County Wireless 911 0.85

Surcharges & Fees
Federal USF Non-Ld Surcharge 0.89
Louisiana State Universal Service Fund 0.30
Federal Wireless Number Pooling And Portability 0.15
Federal E911 0.40

$3.64

$3.64 vs $6.25

My Plan $30.00 Sprint PCS Free and Clear Plan 300 Anytime
Minutes Unlimited Night and Weekends starting at 8pm with $5 roaming option (Sprint PCS service does not work in my home)

on Sanyo SCP-4000 phone old school and ghetto but dropped it a million times and keeps on ticking so what I can't text. That is the BEST PHONE SPRINT EVER PUT OUT. Kyocera is the worst.
alpha1111

alpha1111 to JimmyZ

Member

to JimmyZ
I guess they got rid or changed the name of the Texas State Special Fee

Did you know the GOV'T uses some of the TIF (texas state infrastucture fund) you know that .39 to help make holy roller rick (wannabe dubya) perrys toll roads happen?

-"Why should I use a toll road, I pay money for the road already why should I pay twice" -another good quote

Farmer3214321
@qwest.net

Farmer3214321

Anon

Just tried to cancel

I just tried to cancel my service ad the representative had no idea about this news release. She said I had no grounds for terminating my contract and waiving the ETF. I did notice that they charged me double taxes, in which case they credited my account $20. I have had a hard time with the cell service not to mention the customer service. Please help if there is a way I can get out of my contract.

Squiggles
@sbcglobal.net

Squiggles

Anon

Contract

Does this change enable breaking your contract for free?

Heat3058
join:2007-01-11
El Paso, TX

Heat3058

Member

ETF Update

Guys,

I emailed Sprint and received a reply back within 8 hours. It seems that they are working on it. I emailed them here ( ecare@cc.sprintpcs.com ) & ( ecare1@cc.sprintpcs.com ). Below is an excerpt of my email from them.

Good luck to everyone else that is trying to get out of their contract. The reason I opted to get out is because of the fees they were charing us this entire time and claiming that it was federally mandated, which in fact it wasn't. All carriers have some issues but this was deceitful of them and I am not looking back at Sprint no more. Gonna give the GSM world a twirl.

"
Hello,

Thank you for contacting Sprint. I understand you wish to cancel the services due to the rate increase in the Administrative and Regulatory charges.

I will be glad to assist you regarding the rate increase.

Yes, the Administrative and Regulatory charges will be increased effective January 01, 2008. There will be an increase of $0.40 for these charges on each subscription of the account. The increase in these charges has been made due to the increase in the State and Regulatory tax charges.

Further, you can get the services on the account canceled without the Early Termination Fee.

As you wish to cancel the services due to this increase, I have forwarded the concern to the appropriate department and one of our specialists will get in touch with you within next 48 to 72 hours.

Our specialist will take the required information and will perform the necessary steps to resolve the concern to your satisfaction.

If you have any further concerns, please write back to me and I will be glad to assist you in the best possible way.

It was a pleasure assisting you and I look forward to more opportunities to serve you in future. Have a great day!

Austin G.

Business E-Care
Sprint
"Where our customers come first!"

I will update again once they have let me out of my contract with no "ETF".

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