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.
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If I’m part of a multi-line plan, can I just cancel one of the lines and get out of the ETF for that line?
Wow, I just canceled without ETF, not an issue at all, took me 5 minutes. I was prepared for battle and they just said okay.
Quote Kyle: “I’m part of a multi-line plan, can I just cancel one of the lines and get out of the ETF for that line?”
Don’t think you can. I think it is connected to the Account, not the individual lines. It is an all or nothing deal.
Thanks for the reply Bruce. One thing that I think might allow me to cancel just the one line is in the increase fee notice it says this, “Effective 1/1/10, the Regulatory Charge will increase to $0.40/line.” The $.40 increase is for each line, which I think would entitle me to be able to cancel service for that one line. I guess I will have to call and find out.
Kyle – Let us know what you find out. I have several lines and I want to cancel one or two
I have been trying to cancel my service for the past 4 hours without any luck. After calling the cancellation department and maintaining my position that their notification of change is grounds for me to cancel my contract without ETF, they still refused because ‘You must receive your bill first with the new regulatory fee’. That is a lie! The notice itself is enough to cancel the service!
PhoneNews, help me out here.. this is very frustrating!!
Lee, I am in the same situation! I have been trying all day and trying to explain it to reps and supervisors to no avail! They keep saying i need to wait for my next bill which isnt for another 3 weeks
I have read all I can find on this issue. Some people are being told they have to wait for the bill this month and some aren’t.
I argued with 4 reps and 2 supervisors and each time am told they can’t cancel until my bill comes in 2 weeks. How has anybody gotten around this argument?
Same damn thing I heard after over an hour and a half. The last guy read me the internal document they had about this issue. Sounds like Sprint isn’t exactly playing nice on this one. And it’s complete BS. The argument went “well, we don’t know if you’ll be affected so you may not be allowed out without an ETF. We have to wait until it’s billed…” I asked repeatedly where in my contract it said anything about needing a change to be billed, assessed, charged, etc, before I could terminate without an ETF.
We went round and round about what appeared to me to be pretty clear language in the Terms and Conditions. We had 30 days from the effective date of a change. The effective date, according to my bill, is 1/1/10, word for word. They just kept saying that the ETF waiver would only be in effect once there was charge on my bill. Ridiculous.
It’s fine because I got the guy to tell me, in no uncertain terms, that I would have 30 days from the time my next bill is generated (around 1/11/10) to cancel without an ETF. I said to him, “so, if I cancel before Feb 11th, 30 days after my bill is generated, I should be able to get out without an ETF? I mean between Jan 31st and Feb 11?” He said “yes”. Of course, I know that’s complete BS, but it was fun to get him to admit it. He tried to walk it back.
I’ll just call back in 2 weeks. All 3 of the reps told me that I’d be able to get out without an ETF once the change “hits my bill”. They’re just thinking I’m going to forget. Fat chance after an experience like tonight!
All customers affected should have seen it in their notes section on their last month’s bill. The vast majority of Sprint customers did receive this notification.
The easiest way for you to confirm is to log-on to Sprint.com and pull up the PDF version of your bill, and look in the notices and changes section (usually on the first few pages of your bill).
We have run into some customer service representatives that claim that customers haven’t been notified of the change, when they in fact have. That is why we stress that you should politely call back and start over again with a new representative, if you run into trouble.
I read them the notice on my bill and had them read it back to me, as well. It doesn’t matter. They’ve got an internal memo stating that they are not allowed to waive the ETF until the bill is generated. This is per the 3rd supervisor I spoke to during my marathon phone call. My guess is that they’re not going to let anyone out easily.
Chris, I can confirm that there is an internal memo circulating that reps have been told to wait until the January bill is issued, the one where they actually charge you the new fee. I have received the notice of the raise in my December bill and also read it directly to them to no avail. Four reps and their supervisors all told me today that I cannot cancel without an ETF yet. They really seem to be digging in their heels on this…
We’ll touch base with Sprint on Monday, due to the holidays it’s quite possible incorrect memos can get issued.
It’s also possible Sprint is fearing a jamming of their call centers, and moved the 30 day window to the effective bill date. EIther way, they can’t make your specific window less than 30 days, and we’ll get to the bottom of it.
That all said, Sprint hasn’t said anything to us about it, and our test calls (before running the latest article) were successful. I would keep calling.
The official word to us from Sprint Media Relations is that you can schedule cancellation on the 2nd. That’s today.
Today I had a manager tell me I can cancel within 60 days with no ETF, and made a note of it on my account.
Happy “2010″ to all !
Christopher Price:”That is why we stress that you should politely call back and start over again with a new representative, if you run into trouble.”
I also would like to add the following steps to that, do not drop the ball, it is not over until you have ported your #, take the time to take following steps, to seal your success:
1.Note the “Time & Date” of the agreement
2.At the very least note one of the following:
Employee Name/Title/Department/Employee ID/location
3.”The zeroed out Contract” confirmation # !
4.Double check “contract status”:
By either calling *2, asking them what your contract status is, in other words what is it showing on their screen, is the contract for certain “zeroed out” ? Note name/date again!
By going to a SPRINT Corporate store and/or maybe even a Best Buy mobile department, ask the manager/clerk to check your contract status independently, better certain than sorry!
5. Be prepared for contradictory responses, remain calm and yet keep it short, do not waste your energy on the hopes of a “no2yes answer conversion”, try the next one !
6.Best of luck to you in reaching the desired resolution, remember to keep your eyes on the prize!
Thank You
I’m glad I found this and will be leaving ASAP. I joined Sprint in March 2009 because I wanted a simple limitless plan and I loved their Samsun Instinct phone. It turns out that the Instinct phone is an absolute disaster. It’s the buggiest POS I’ve ever dealt with and that includes various flavors of Windows. I have the “Simply Everything” play for “only” $99 a month which then comes to $117 after all their hidden fees and taxes. I get more and more angry with them all the time. My email functionality periodically just breaks for weeks on end, the Navigation system is horrendous, and the web brower is basically unusable. Why am I paying $117 a month when so much doesn’t work?
I’ve really wanted to leave and start fresh somewhere else, but I couldn’t afford a $200 ETF. This will be my way out and I will find another company to overcharge me for phone and texting. I’m done with general data, however, and will simply live with a standard phone for now on. These fancy-schmancy phones are just too buggy and way too expensive per month.
I, too, was told that nothing whatsoever can be done until the raised fee actually appears on my next bill.
I just want to remind people that this shouldn’t be, first and foremost, about getting out of a lousy plan or phone. This should be a consumer rights issue – Companies don’t have the right to change the terms of our contracts without consequence. My desire to get out of this contract without ETF is not indicative of my happiness with the service. I do this as a matter of course whenever a company tries to change terms on me. I let them know of my disagreement the only way they’ll listen.
You’re absolutely right Sammy, we want people to be able to vote with their wallets, and you’ll be hearing more from us about contracts, in the coming weeks.
Can I cancel my 5-line family plan with Sprint under these terms and still remain a month-to-month customer or must I actually leave Sprint? If I have to take my 5 lines and leave, can I come back to Sprint immediately with a new contract or must I wait until I am considered a new customer again?
Ideally I’d like to stay with them but just be off contract.
Damn you Sammy! Your principles are now making me feel guilty about leaving Sprint because the only reason I am leaving is due to the expensive plan and lousy phone I have.
@Steve – no reason to feel guilty about it.
On my part, I’d prefer to stay with Sprint because I get good service and have a very affordable (SERO) plan. They told me that ending the contract and staying month to month isn’t an option, so I’m putting my money where my mouth is and moving to a more expensive provider. Priciples aren’t cheap! So, between your situation and mine, the karma in the universe is balanced. 
Just wanted to add my $0.02…
The first time I called today, the gentleman said that I had to wait until it showed up on my bill.
I just called back, and the guy marked my account as fulfilled. It now shows on my account that my contract end date is 01/03/2010.
I called and canceled one of my lines without a problem. I still have 3 other lines with them but they are all sero and are too good to let go. I have no issues with them when it comes to coverage but I canceled the one line to be able to get a better phone with Verizon. You just have to be professional as soon as you get on the line with a rep. If you show the rep respect he will show you respect and more likely will cancel the account on the first run at it. Hopefully the iphone will be released on verizon and can be used to its fullest potential.
@Sammy
I no longer feel guilty! I just had my phone swapped to an identical model through Sprint’s warrenty program. My data was supposed to be transfered but my downloaded visual voicemail is gone. These voicemails had no way of being manually backedup anywhere else. So that means I have a phone where:
1) …my email sporatically decides not to work for up to a week at a time.
2) …my default web browser is more-or-less defective and requires installing the Opera Mini browser.
3) …my “state of the art” design imposes 1980s style limitations on the calendar and note functionality
4) …my navigation system almost always freezes up while loading an address and will sometimes dump me into an infinite loop of U-Turns miles from my destination.
5) …my alarm clock will sometimes go off at a random point in the day (very bizarre)
Basically the only thing that does work on this phone is the phone, contact list, and text messaging!
It pretty much costs me $1400 a year for service and every month or so I give up on yet another feature. I know a lot of this is Samsung’s fault for not fixing these problems but it’s Sprint’s job to light a fire under their a** when they become unresponsive. I call Sprint at least every 3 days over yet another problem because I decided that when problems arise I’m not just going to take it any longer, I’m going to make it their problem as well.
Upon second thought, I’ve realized that Sprint has not been satisfying their part of our agreement for months and therefore they’ve already voided the contract.
@JJ
I am also considering the possible VZW iPhone, since Wimax 4G is not coming to Los Angeles until early 2011!
@ Christopher Price
As Sammy said: “They told me that ending the contract and staying month to month isn’t an option,….”
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 legaly “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 month”, the remaining one who was at Retention/AccountServiesDepartment, said I would have to port my # , but did not give any deadline, typical SPRINT inconsistency !
Why would a Company, want to get rid off good paying accounts??
This would not be the first time that SPRINT, decided to go against the tide of logic!
(Forced “plan change” for “phone of choice” / spending $35 billion on Nextel etc)
Thank You
Steve – Why blame sprint for not doing research on a phone? You should be mad at Samsung for making a crappy phone. If you want email get a blackberry. The 117 is probably 99.99 for the plan 7.00 for insurance the rest arent hidden fee’s they are clearly stated on your invoice
I wonder how often Steve check his wireless bill, as local and state taxes can be very significant.
I’ve tried A900 and the Ace on Sprint, and the experience has been below par. My brother-in-law has the Instinct, and his experience is pretty much the same as yours. I’ll never, ever use another Samsung phone until I see others giving it 4+ feedback on Sprint.com website.
No doubt Sprint shouldn’t have approved those POS at the first place, but the Samsungs may work for some but apparently not everyone. Now, if you choose to leave Sprint, please spend time to research the network before jumping ship, and I’ve got to say there’s only one that may be worth going to, if you want quality that comes with hefty, HEFTY price tag. Others are either too expensive for what you get, or doesn’t provide decent service to be worth considering. And no, I’m not going to tell you who they are.
I called on Wednesday Dec 31st at 12:54 AM to ask to cancel due to the material change. I spoke first with Julia, who transferred me to an acct. mgr, called Myrtle. I said that I received their notification of change in my Dec statement and that this was grounds for me to cancel my contract. She said I had to wait, ‘You must receive your bill with the regulatory fee increase’. I said that this was inaccurate and she asked if I wanted to speak to a supervisor. Justin, who spoke so quickly that I don’t know how he got in customer service in the first place, said that I couldn’t cancel until the charge appears on my statement. He said that the notification was sent to all customers, but that not every geographic region would see the regulatory fee increase applied to his or her account. I took this to be a way for them avoid closing my account then and there. I will call back after the increase appears on my account on Jan 8th and cancel. I don’t want to waste anymore time interacting with their ‘customer service’ reps.
@Christopher
I fear that by making me wait they are going to not put the charge on my bill and then not let me cancel? Is it possible that because of the interactions I have already had with customer service they will cancel this change and not let me get out of my contract?
Also how is everyone achieving success in getting around the you must wait excuse? I feel like now they have logged comments in my account and I stand no chance of canceling successfully.
@ Christopher
Can you please also confirm, if we can zero out our contract, i mean just get our contracts fullfilled and den be with sprint month to month. or we have to cancel and then port the no to some other carrier.
Thanks
@mike I wouldn’t be surprised if Sprint did that, but I wrote down the times and names of the reps I talked to so I could fight it if they do!
I also had to fight Sprint Jan 2nd and escalate to a supervisor. They kept telling me I had to wait for the charge to show on a bill. It was very frustrating since I had already spoken to a rep 2 weeks ago who told me to call back Jan 1 but to call before my next bill cycle date to avoid another month’s charges. The supervisor did relent and even gave me the important timing info on my port out. However, he made sure to tell me I was wrong several times and insist he was doing me a favor. I pointed out the wording was consistent between when the change was “effective” and my contract allowint only 30 days to cancel from when the change is “effective.”
I worry for the people with later bill cycle dates since they will only have 30 days from Jan 1st. If they get their first bill showing the charge in the mail Feb 1, Sprint can just tell them the 30 days are expired. So why are they telling so many people they have to wait until they see the charge?
Mike, we’re aware of the concern. It’s possible Sprint will realize too many customers want to cancel and abort the fee increase completely.
If they do, there’s nothing we can do about that… Sprint would be choosing to return to the agreement that you signed. In fact, we would see that as an accomplishment more than anything else, by showing Sprint that raising fees in the middle of a contract is never a wise choice.
I called three times today to cancel without ETF. The first two times I was told I need to wait for the fee increases to show on my next bill. My billing cycle started Jan 3rd, so I won’t see changes until Feb 3rd. I didn’t want to take the chance of calling back on Feb 3rd to be told I only had 30 days from Jan 1st to cancel. The first two reps offered me 20% discount, but I politeley said no thanks I will wait for my next bill.
The third time was a charm. The rep named Cindy did not give me the runaround. She did however ask me the “real” reason I wanted to cancel becasue surely $.20 per line fee increase can’t be the reason. I stuck to my guns and said the fee increase is the only reason, and she simply said ok. All three lines on my account are scheduled to be cancelled after this cycle. The rep also asked me if I wanted to port my numbers to a different carrier, which I declined… I didn’t want to take any chances of things getting screwed up in Sprint’s system.
Unfortunately for me I will still have to pay for the month of January, but I did get her name, dept, confirmation #, and an email confirmation.
What happens if they do cancel the contract and you don’t port your numbers? Will you then be month-to-month automatically or will they just shut you down?
Protocol at Sprint is that if you do not port out/cancel by the end of the billing cycle, the contract is supposed to go back into effect.
In reality, it’s all how the rep codes it in. However, I would not risk that the rep said one thing, but meant another. If you are canceling the contract, port your number out or have service set to cancel before the next bill.
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.
Well, I think this may have finally worked for me.
After wrangling with two belligerent asses at Sprint, I called back and spoke to another dude who complied immediately and without hassle. Amazing.
The first two kept going on and on about needing the reg charge to show up on my bill before doing any thing. But they were very happy to cancel my account and charge me the $200 ETF.
They kept me on hold for a long time, kept referring to notes, kept saying that their own memos state that they can’t do anything about this until the “charge shows up”.
Then of course, I call back again, and now speak to a polite but jaded sounding dude who clearly has done many of these non-ETF cancellations.
He requests the “real reason” for my cancellation because surely, the $.40 charge can’t be the true reason. I stick to my guns and tell him that that is the only reason and to again, please cancel without ETF. He did it.
Took a good 1 minute, where the other d-bags kept me on hold for 20 minutes.
Keep trying guys!
First try: shot down, rep said I have to wait until the charge shows up on my bill.
Second try, minutes later: rep said this does not apply to SERO accounts.
Third try, TBD.
So Sprint’s idea of “helping ETF go smoothly” is to have their customers call repeatedly until we reach a rep — a rep who must be having a good day nonetheless — that agrees to help?
I spoke with a supervisor who was very nice and explained the change to read that once your bill has charged the fee (taken effect), then you can opt out and they will notate the account. This fee will take effect on your billing cycle date. So when some people in this forum say they had no problem, most likely their bill date was on the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd etc. For me, I have to wait until the 29th for it to take effect and therefore reverse/opt out the new fee.
Does anyone know if you can opt out and keep service, just go month-to-month? I forgot to ask.
I just attempted to port it out, and the person from Account Services said that they’re allowed to increase the fee, it doesn’t signify a change in the contract.
Anyone here this? Are they just ‘stalling’?
If customers have questions about the regulatory charge notification they received, we encourage them to contact us. We will then review their contract terms to determine if the material change to their contract applies to them, as well as ensure that they are well-informed about the change and satisfied with their service.
We believe our customers understand our need to make a small increase in the fee because they recognize they are getting the best overall value in the industry when they factor in the cost of Sprint’s all-inclusive pricing plans.
Roni Singleton
Sprint PR
Dear Roni:
Please fix your customer service so we get the same, clear message no matter who we talk to. Having to call multiple times to simply be able to cancel is ridiculous.
Roni, I appreciate you writing in to help, but with respect, your comments provide little to no information.
You encourage us to “call in”? We have, and have gotten tons of run around from different reps.
Who should we call?
Why don’t you provide a *specific number* to a higher up, well informed supervisor who has the power to fulfill our requests the first time?
Sprint changed its policies / regulation charge and now we as consumers have the right to void our contract without ETF, as per stated in your Terms and Conditions.
Be a responsible company and also consumers to opt-out without hassle!
If I call to cancel my account, would I be able to port my old number over to another Sprint account? In other words, add my old phone number to my husband’s phone line?
Ellen, you cannot port back to Sprint for 90 days after cancelling a line of service. The best thing to do would be to port the number out to a prepaid carrier. Then port back to Sprint after 90 days.
When I cancel, they won’t cancel it right away, correct? I’ll have some time to get a new carrier/phone?
FYI, I just called and they told me I have to wait until my next billing cycle. I got the notice in my most recent bill, but the actual new charge isn’t on there yet. So, I have to wait to be able to show two bills with different charges.
Does that sound right or should I try again?
Ellen, you should ask when your next billing cycle occurs, you will have until the end of your billing cycle to port out to another carrier. Tell customer service that you are going to be porting your number out, so that they waive the ETF properly during that process.
As to if you have to wait until you are billed the fee increase… we don’t know if that’s correct or not. Unfortunately Sprint has given two conflicting statements, complicating matters. We suggest everyone at least try calling customer service twice, before giving up and waiting for the next bill cycle.
We have done, and are doing everything possible to get a clear and consistent statement from Sprint on this matter.
I’ve called 3 times so far and each time they told me that I would have to wait until the charge shows up on my bill to be able to cancel and port out. My bill will be posted in the last week of January. I may try calling a few more times until then with the hopes of getting a rep who is willing to help me out.
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
@ Don and F1
No I don’t think Sprint is a For Profit company, they are. This is not a forum of “well Sprint bought Nextel for 3.5 Billion.” That’s not the point here. Make a VALID argument towards my comment or move on to the “Why did Sprint Buy Nextel” forum. My point is if you want a cheap “Smart Phone” you’re going to have to have a contract. From an investor standpoint allowing your customers to wonder around with a subsidized phone and no contract leaves a bad taste. You cannot count on that customer’s income therefore you can’t forecast what you think you will make then in turn your stock price is worth less. (Once again not an argument on profitability) It’s better to let that customer walk away then to have them on your books.
Would you depend on someone that you sold a car too and let make payments but could run off whenever and not pay their bill? I wouldnt…
@F1
and its not passion and pride. Its disgust for people that take advantage of someone or something. Listen to the comments on this board…it oozes with with people taking advantage of a loophole to get more for less while making someone pay more. They are not asking you to pay $10 more a month its $9.60 for 23 months. Maybe this extra money might employ more american workers? Or even get you cheaper subsidized phones.
Dont like the contract? Pay Full Price. No contract required!!
Hmmmm. If the guy was going to take the car anyway, I’d rather he make payments monthly. Something is most certainly better than nothing, wouldn’t you agree? Oh, do remember that that particular car runs on Sprint branded gas only so they could always turn the pump off when the monthly payments stop..
I don’t really see the logic in any sense of letting a paying customer walk when all you have to do is say “OK” and they stay. So they leave in 2-3 months, big deal, they were gone anyway the minute the contract was broken.
Dear RG
A couple of points:
1.”You cannot count on that customer’s income therefore you can’t forecast what you think you will make then in turn your stock price is worth less. (Once again not an argument on profitability)”
First of all you can not count on anything in life to be certainty.
Second, today SPRINT is sadly at best a $3 stock vs the $30-40 stock value of AT&T & VZW, why do you think that is?
” It’s better to let that customer walk away then to have them on your books.”
I guess that would be a good reason for it!
2.”Would you depend on someone that you sold a car too and let make payments but could run off whenever and not pay their bill? I wouldnt…”
Millions of people do just that everyday in the Automotive Industry, it is called a secured debt, based on ones credit history.
3.”They are not asking you to pay $10 more a month its $9.60 for 23 months. Maybe this extra money might employ more american workers? Or even get you cheaper subsidized phones.”
Are you aware how much SPRINT CEO D. Hesse made in 2009?
He made $14 million in 2008!
While 1000′s of american SPRINT employees were let go!
4.”Dont like the contract? Pay Full Price. No contract required!!”
Did you read my post above?
F1 on January 6th, 2010, 1:28 pm
…. 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 CIVICâ€!
In the U.S. thankfully people are free to express their frustration, if someone breaches a contract, there has to be consequences, this is how we keep law and order, otherwise the companies would take advantage and we would have anarchy, look what happened because of “Madoff” and the failure of government agencies to follow up on peoples complains and inquiries.
As C.P. likes to say “people talk with your valets”!
It is not about the $.01, it is about the principle of breaching a contract, all they had do to was to continue sticking their current “administrative charges” to the remaining customers,… but let us get some more…, you see greed knows no boarders or limitations.
Hope this helped shed some light on some of our frustrations with SPRINT!
Thank You
I see my decision to wait for CES to decide has been brought up several times.
I am a SERO customer. It is a good plan and I am very hesitant to give it up. I am using a refurbed phone and I would like to upgrade. What is wrong with that? If I upgrade now, I will be getting either the Hero or Moment. Both good phones. If Sprint has a Snapdragon based android phone, or perhaps the LG Prada 3 coming out in the next few months, then why shouldn’t I wait, keep my cheap ass SERO and upgrade when my contract expires in five months?
We have a month to do this. I chose to make an educated decision because I will be locked into a phone for 2 years once I do. I got locked into the old Touch. It was a good phone for its time but it was nearing the end of its run and was pretty much obsolete when I got it. I do not want to make a similar mistake. I already was in touch with Sprint and they told me to just port out and dispute the ETF based on the new reg fee. That was last month. I did not yet and who knows, I may not. It is a hassle if I want to continue with Sprint and still keep my number that I have had for about 8 years.
Sincerely,
The “I’m going to wait to see what happens at CES before making a decision.†guy.
This page has been quite an education for me and I appreciate all the input everyone has had and shared.
I called Sprint today to cancel a client’s 3 business lines, but was denied by the lead supervisor because, “Sprint Business customers have a different set of Terms and Conditions. In the Business Terms & Conditions, there is no clause stating that a customer may terminate service without incurring ETFs due to materially adverse changes to contract.” Sure enough, she’s right. Here’s the Business T&C PDF: http://www.sprint.com/business/resources/ratesandterms/Standard_Terms_and_Conditions_for_Communications_Services.pdf
Unlike the personal terms, section 13.2 of the business terms says nothing about the 30 day cancellation due to material changes to contract.
Section 13.2 – Customer Right to Terminate
A. Material Failure. Customer may terminate a Product or Service without early termination liability upon Sprint’s receipt of Customer’s written notice to terminate after the cure period if:
(1) Sprint materially fails to provide the Product or Service,
(2) Customer provides Sprint with written notice of the failure and a reasonable opportunity to cure within 30 days from receipt of notice,
(3) Sprint fails to cure the material failure within the 30-day cure period, and
(4) Customer provides Sprint with written notice of Sprint’s failure to cure and Customer’s election to terminate the affected Product or Service.
Sprint’s material failure does not include a failure caused by Customer or a Force Majeure Event.
B. Termination for Convenience. Customer may terminate the Agreement during the Term by providing 30 days’ written notice to Sprint. In the case of such Termination for Convenience, Customer may be liable for early termination fees as set forth in the Agreement.
I’d love to get my client out of contract, but I’ve hit a wall. Suggestions anyone?
Thanks
@Paul:
If they can change a contract at will, then it’s not a contract.
Perhaps someone here with more legal expertise can lend you some advice.
Sounds like more bull from Sprint’s retentions dept.
Paul, you can note to retentions that a material change to the cost of service is a “failure to deliver product” at the agreed-upon price.
@Christopher – thank you for your suggestion. I’ll give it a try.
Called Sprint,
Cancelled no questions asked, Service rep just wanted to know if I could give him all 5′s on the survey I would be sent on his job performance. He made the account cancelation notes while I was on the phone and said call back after I port my number. Appears they are ready and willing to help.
Just finished with Adam at acct services, 10 minutes total. Canceled contract siting material change, no ETF. I have 30 days to call back and re-sign up with Sprint at $15/month discount or port my number to another carrier.
Called Sprint on Jan 9th to cancel without ETF from the Verizon store. Courteous and respectful, tried to get me back since I have been a customer for 10 years. I stuck to the story line of the material change to the contract and he complied with no hassle. Numbers were ported within an hour later.
Ironically, this has been among my best Sprint customer service interactions.
The reason for changing? My mobile wife has had a lot of connectivity issues with Sprint, and she experienced an outage for 1.5 hrs in a major shopping mall where she was conducting a meeting and that was the last straw for her. She did not care what discount I was able to get from Sprint.
I just got off the phone with a very nice representative and cancelled with no problems. A++ customer service. I like sprint but i have two accounts already and this one was unnecessary and expensive anyways.
I called earlier this month to cancel my contract and was able to do so. At that time, rep said there would be no ETF. Ported my number out a few days ago and called back today to verify that account was closed with no ETF. To my surprise, they showed an ETF on my acct.
So I had to speak with their cancellation dept again to ensure no ETF on my final bill. Rep issued a ticket number to get this resolved so hopefully all is OK now.
So for all those who cancelled, might want to call back for verification after your number is ported!!
Sprint is just like any other carrier, there will always be people complaining and bitching about any little fee just to get them out of something. I have the Hero through sprint and I love it. Who cares if I have to pay 40 cents more. We have over 50 phones and their business plans are the most cost effective. They run off CDMA towers so you will roam with Alltel and other CDMA carriers without any additional charges (besides your mobile to mobile not kicking in. But like I said there will always be people looking to complain anywhere ya go. Ive worked with several differnt carriers and this one is the best yet.
I called yesterday and didn’t have too much of a hassle to cancel my service without the ETF. Of course, they tried to keep me, offered me a discount that would be way more then the $.20 increase, but I wanted to cancel anyway. I get very very poor service up in the mountains of Vermont where I live. I will port my number before the end of my billing cycle which the CSR told me was 2/9/10. She said I have already paid for service thru then, so I should receive no other bills from them unless I go over minutes or something. I hope this is all true, as after reading all the posts here, I am nervous that I will be in for a fight with them after I port with another carrier. With all this attrition Sprint is having, it doesn’t seem like the $.20 was worth it??
HELP!!! I have a family plan with sprint and my parents had re-new their contract two years ago in Februray08 and added me on june08. Their contract ends next month in February we all are going to leave to t-mobile. But sprint is making me stay until june10 to finish my 2 year contract. I want to leave with my parents next month in February. can i use this $.40 increase thing to cancel my contract without paying my etf if so how?
HELP!!! I have a family plan with sprint and my parents had re-new their contract two years ago in Februray08 and added me on june08. Their contract ends next month in February we all are going to leave to t-mobile. But sprint is making me stay until june10 to finish my 2 year contract. I want to leave with my parents next month in February. can i use this $.40 increase thing to cancel my contract without paying my etf if so how?
HELP!!! I have a family plan with sprint and my parents had re-new their contract two years ago in Februray08 and added me on june08. Their contract ends next month in February we all are going to leave to t-mobile. But sprint is making me stay until june10 to finish my 2 year contract. I want to leave with my parents next month in February. can i use this $.40 increase thing to cancel my contract without paying my etf if so how?
Last night I called Sprint- even though I haven’t received my bill with the $.20 increase yet. I just wanted to make sure that they made note of it in my account before the 30th- because I thought that was when this option was up.
I spoke with 2 people. One girl said that I should do it before the 19th- which is when my cycle is up. She said to just call them and I would be out without the ETF. That seemed too easy. I called back and spoke to someone else who said it seemed fishy..he transferred me to the cancellation department and a man named Josh told me that if I didn’t have it on my bill to wait to do anything…basically a paper trail. But he told me that Sprint wasn’t raising the price without telling people- that it was stated on the bill. I asked why or how, if people are being informed, can they get out of it w/out the ETF? He didn’t know what to tell me… wierd. Then he said that the increase might not even be on my bill- that it doesn’t affect everyone.. because I haven’t received my bill yet could he go in and change something so I won’t get the increase?
Here’s the real question- should I wait to get my bill before I port and change carriers?
Can you only cancel one line from a multi-line plan? or is is going to cancel the whole account.
Help!!! Can you only cancel one line from a multi-line plan? or is is going to cancel the whole account.
All or nothing. It is one account, with multiple lines of service. Kind of like you cannot be a little bit pregnant.
o i am willing to do this but i am afraid they will sent me a etf fee for each line in the mail even after they told me i was waved
hey i just go off the phone with sprint and i got the rep to put our multi lines(family plan) on a month to month so i am able to leave any time and i told him to port my numbers and its all done. Have a good reason and they got no reason to say no GOOD LUCK
I just got off the phone with sprint…I have multi lines on my plan and wanted to cancel one, at first I was given the runaround but eventually I was placed on hold while the rep. spoke with her supervisor. I was told she would be canceling my account and waiving my ETF at the end of my next billing cycle. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. I never believe anything until I see it!!
Good luck to all:)
Oh, BTW…Sprint is going to cancel just one line, not all 3.
I have the same situation as Rita and Johnson but was told I am subject to the etf to cancel one line in my 5 person family contract. I want out of my contract but have the others stay the same. Do I need to be more persistent or talk to a certain dept.? any help would be appreciated.
As noted in my previous post, Business Account Services wouldn’t budge. Today I tried Chat, but still no luck. I then called into Personal Account Services, and after going back and forth for 45 minutes, the supervisor finally released my client from his 3 lines without ETF!
If you have a Business account, don’t call Business Account Services. The Business Terms and Conditions don’t allow for termination due to “materially adverse changes to contract.” Call Personal Account Services instead, and hope they don’t read the Business T&C
I called just a while ago, spent about a hour on the phone with an agent Andy & a supervisor Donna/LV773060 (hold time is more than the talk time, so there aren’t much bullets flying around, and I didn’t call out names).
Long story short, I bought up the fact on regulatory charge changes, so I want to terminate my contract. Andy said that’s not possible. I quote the contracts. he puts me on hold….. then comes back, say Yes, I can get out w/o the ETF, BUT the only way to do that, is to cancel my Sprint contract w/ them. I had read everywhere said that’s NOT necessary, so asked to speak with a supervisor.
on hold….. pickup, ask me to hold…..
on hold…. pickup again… hold again…………..
(do that 2 more times)
finally a lady named Donna/LV773060, she said the samething as Andy did. at that point, I am too piss to talk, feeling they are bullying me. so I said, sure, let’s continue with the process.
I waited for 15 minutes, checked my status on the phone at Sprint.com, I still showing May 2011 expirenation date, unlike someone said that’ll change in few minutes. So I think those 2 fellows screwed me somewhere, somehow that I had to call Sprint again… @#$%)^&*()*
the funny thing is, I actually like my Sprint contract, been w/ Sprint since 1995. All I want is out of the current contract, and maybe hook me up with a smartphone (HTC Hero maybe?), within Sprint. But now, I am going to T-Mobile or just a pre-paid plan.
thanks alot, great service you lusy Sprint CS. Too make matter worse, they stated that SPRINT (as a whole), is not allowed, AND WILL NEVER do such a thing, that lot customer off the contract w/o ETF, and let them go month-by-month…. I guess about 2000x post I read so far, all branch of liars??? can someone back me up on this?
oh, yeah, I fill out the contact us at PhoneNews.com thing here, I love to see how this is going…
not a happy camper…..
[...] ETF fee. The thing is thats its only valid for your Sprint bill in January. Read up about it here. Someone even created a no-ETF script for you to use with customer service on SlickDeals.net. [...]
Well I called and was prepared for a battle as I had plans to cancel only one line. She knew exactly what I was talking about and quickly made notes on the account. Since I will be porting the number to a different carrier I informed her of this and she advised me to port number first and then call back so the fee can be waived. Since I wanted a 2nd person to confirm this she got her supervisor and he verified this also. The end result will be the way to know if this was done properly or not. I still distrust Sprint on this but I will give them the benefit of the doubt that they will do it right.
I checked the status on line, found out I still had the Contract on May 2011, so went to chat w/ an online agent. turns out the cancellation request never process, and the noted said I cancel the request at the end of the conversation.
this Sprint support is really messy up, based on all type of different treatments ppl getting… this noway of running a business.
2 thumbs down!
I had called on 1.3.10 and the agent informed me that I would not be charged the ETF so long as I did actually get the notice on my bill. I read her the notice that I had received on my bill and she stated that she notated my account to be closed out properly after the port. The call seemed to go smoothly, I reconfirmed with her several times that I would not be charged the ETF and she agreed. Fast forward to today, I am porting my number out today and I called Sprint again just to confirm my account was notated properly. Well, it was not. The agent from today read the notes and the previous agent with whom I had spoken with on 1.3.10 wrote that she, “educated customer that a $130 ETF would be applied to account.” I informed the new rep that this was completely false…new rep said she would properly note the account this time. We will see how it pans out.
called 3 times and was told i couldnt cancel because i am on a disounted plan from where my wifes work they said it doesnt effect me
I called once and it went smoothly.
I couldn’t get my number ported to T-Mobile so I called Sprint back to go ahead and close the account ASAP
Ends up the person offer’s me $20 off my bill each month if I stayed on… I didn’t have problems with Sprint to begin with, I just wanted the NexusOne…
So I’m still with Sprint just paying $240 less a year than I was before.
I just called Sprint. It went smooth, and I was very impressed with their kindness. I actually felt bad to cancel my contact.
Wow took less than 3 minutes to get to the cancellation department and then about 5 minutes after i explained the fee thing for them to cancel my account. Very proud of Sprint for making htis an easy process…I agree with joon, I also feel kinda bad for cancelling my contract but that 20 cents extra a month was just killing me…
I called tonight and was able to successfully end my contract with Sprint. I will say that I also called back 45 minutes later verify that it had been set to terminate and that the ETF had been waived. I was glad I did because it would seem like all the notes were not with my account. So unless you are absolutely sure that all is taken care of, call back and make sure. As I understand, There will be no confirmation # for this so ask for an “Interaction Number” instead. This is the number assoc. with the notes the Rep will put on your acct. Good Luck to all.
Hi!! I would like to know if any one of you know if this also applies to nextel??? they were trying to tell me it’s not!
Hello! I have been a member of Helio, who got bought out by Virgin Mobile, who got bought out by Sprint. As of right now I’m a virgin customer I believe although they’re owned by Sprint. Any idea if this could be applicable? Thanks!
@carol yes this applies to nextel I had two Nextel lines and two Sprint lines on the same plan and account.
Called and it took less than 10 minutes. Just chose the option “Cancel Account” and got a rep in just a minute or two. Told them that I was cancelling because of the change in fees being charges to my account. They did ask the question many of the posters above mentioned “What’s the REAL reason you’re cancelling. $0.20 per line can’t be it”. I told them that I preferred to call the $0.20 per line “The straw that broke the relationship and the contract”. I’ve been a Sprint customer for 10 years. Had enough of the 2-year contracts being added any time I made any change while all I got for this was little to no support for a long time customer and having to sit back and watch new account signups get anything they need. My phone was out of contract and month-to-month, but the wife’s phone had a year on it after she had to replace a non-functioning phone. I figure I’ll switch companies every two years now unless I find one that has decent service. I agree Sprint has cheap plans, but I think you get what you pay for. I wouldn’t buy a parachute from WalMart, and I’ll be happy to pay a little more for service and peice of mind.
I just called right now and the lady was like “is this the real reason to cancel?” and then she said that if I was porting out my number then I would have to call back on feb 24 (that is when my billing cycle ends) to have the termination fee waived! i doubted this because maybe i won’t be able to cancel without the etf.
or is she right?
This actually works!!!! Called last week and was told to wait until the charges showed up on my bill. Called back tonight after my bill arrived and told them the only reason I wanted to end my contract was b/c of the $.40 charge (actually it’s the crappy service but I didn’t want to risk telling them that and them saying that wasn’t good reason to get out of contract). The lady asked me if I wanted to port my #’s over. I did. She told me my contract ended today and I could port my #’s over @ any time or continue to pay month to month. I confirmed I could port my #’s on both lines w/o ETF and that was it. Checked online later and it had already showed that my contract ended today. It took less than 10 minutes.
Done, easy as pie, whole process took 5 minutes. My rep didn’t even bother trying to get me to stay. Number is waiting to be ported tomorrow. Thanks for the great info!
For those of you that are satisfied with the Sprint service you have. Sprint will take $20 off your plan a month for 2 years to keep you as a customer.
so i call sprint today to terminate my service and there was no bumps in the road now just have to port my # see whats next keep y’all posted
On another forum, someone claimed that his $20-for-24-months credit (which he got a couple of months ago in exchange for renewing his contract) mysteriously disappeared from his latest bill, and Sprint refused to put it back on. I am afraid that the same thing will happen to all of us, next month or 2 or 3 months from now. Sprint will simply get “amnesia,” drop our monthly credit, and thumb its nose at us.
Unfortunately, I did not get any written documentation of the promised $20/24 credit. Did anyone else?
I have had sprint for the last five years or so. I have or rather had two lines of service through them. In September of last year, I decided to call them to see if I could change my plan to cheaper plan — the first rep said no problem we can do that, but then ran in to a problem. She said she would call me back within five minutes, an hour later, I called back. The second time, the representative changed my plan and told me to call back in a few days to confirm the changes had been made. I call back a week later and was told, my plan had not been changed, only because I had instintcs on both lines of service and the plan I originally had to begin with was the cheapest I could be on.
So, at that point, I am livid. I was lied to twice, no one ever called me back to let me know that I could not have the plan that was quoted to me. I asked to speak with a supervisor, one was not available — they escalated my situation to executive services. They called me back within 24 hours and I was told I had been let out of my contract early, basically telling me I could go wherever I wanted to because of this entire situation.
A few days later, my birthday rolls around. I decided to leave Sprint. Both my boyfriend and I decide to go to AT&T and get Iphones. Months later, around the beginning of January — in the mail I get a notice from Sprint saying I am months beyond on paying my bill and to please pay as soon as possible. Another screw up, big surprise. The amount comes to $249, which I assuming is an ETF and maybe some monthly charges.
What I want to know is, what is the best course of action to take? Please help!
@ Barre
Do you still have your contact information at the “Executive Office”?
If so, I would strongly recommend contacting that individual immediately.
That should bring about the fastest resolution, other wise the more lenghty solution is through contacting the FCC, feel free to let me know, if you are in need of any further assistance.
Thank You
This does work, and it is easy. As a matter of fact, it works even if you port your number first… contrary to the article. It seems like clock-work, every January 1st Sprint adds a small fee similar to this one. I have attempted to cancel without an ETF the past two years, but have been lured in by the credits/discounts/free phones Sprint has given me for sticking with them. However, this time my wife and I were bound-and-determined that we wanted iPhones. I chose to port our numbers and buy our iPhones before canceling our Sprint contracts, as I was worried that if I called Sprint first they would cancel on the spot and I would lose the ability to port our #s. So that is what we did… We ported both lines to AT&T and bought iPhones, the same night I got home – I called Sprint and let them know that I just ported because of the “material adverse change” to my contract, which I refered to on my bill as the $.40 increase to the regulatory fee. They made no attempts to keep my business after I was transferred to the “retention department”… they simply said to wait 3-5 business days for the $400 credit to show-up. Sure enough, I called five days later and my total bill was $15.31… which is actually less than I calculated my final bill should have been. Worked great!!
I just was wondering i have 6 months left on my contract and i’m sick of my phone i want to get a differnt phone but i can’t afford the 200 etf fee can i call sprint and get a way with the etf?
and I want to port my number cause i like my number
I hate sprint and will do anything to end my contract without an ETF… i feel line they continue to find ways to get over on me and take my money. They us thought of this new litte thing called a credit limit fee. What! i didn’t ask for a credit limit.. so our going to charge me for forcing me to have one? and then recently the cut my services off becasue of insufficient funds when i caled back to get them to stop payment and i actually made the payment a second time. not only did they trun my phone off but they hit me with an NSF and my bank hit me with 2 NSF’s and what did sprint do?.. NOTHING!… gave me one of those “i’m sorry but your bassicaly SOL” right about now.. I’m frious with sprint and ready to disconnect. but i realy don’t want to pay the ETF.
Is there any hope for me?
I want to know if I’m on time to do the disconnection…I want to get rid of sprint ASAP
Hi Nathan,
I just wanted to answer your question in case you never found an answer. I have been trying to get my account disconnected without an ETF seeing as I didn’t know about any of this until it was too late to cancel. I did try to cancel and was told I could not do so without an ETF. I tried again today. Same thing. The supervisor did say she could wave my ETF to $100.00 per line instead of $130 per line but still that’s not what I want. I need out of my contract. She is trying to send in a request to cancel without ETF waiver and see what happens from there but she didn’t sound too hopeful and I believe she was being honest and straight forward about things. So long explanation shorter: You had to cancel by Jan.31,2010 if you did not then you are stuck with the ETF. If you were like me and probably many of us you probably did not receive or know that you received a letter telling you of the deadline to do this and or see it listed on your bill until the time had elapsed to cancel before the deadline. I hope this at least helps you in knowing what your options are. Wish I had better news for the both of us.
Just an update as I often read these posts and get value but have been remiss in replying back and posting updates myself. Hope this helps someone figure out their cell phone dilemmas somewhere…
I followed the instructions above on 1/27/10 and canceled my service (despite lots of selling and price slashing trying to keep me as a customer). Little did I know, they charged the $200 termination fee anyway. I didn’t realize it until I received a collection notice in the mail for it being past due recently. Today I tried chatting online, then a phone call to the specified # by the chat assistant and four transfers later I spoke to Christine. Apparently I had two lines on my account. I ported one, and asked to have the other canceled as it was inactive (and had been for a couple years). They left open the inactive line which triggered the termination fee afterall. In the end Christine was able to help me and remove the fee. It’s an hour of my life I’ll never get back but I’m happy to have the refund.
Keep getting a run around from Sprint. This is the third time I’ve called about this and they ‘forget’ that they previously agreed to get rid of the early termination fee. Each time I call they say that there isn’t any information on my account stating that they agreed to waive it when the last couple of times I’ve talked to them, they agree to do it.
[...] don’t see eye to eye at all on the status of an ETF Out. On the other hand, we’ve gone the extra mile and worked with carriers when everyone is in agreement on the [...]