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Wed Nov 12, 2008 4:05 pm

Does anyone know of any good ways to get out of your cell phone contract without HAVING to pay the early termination fee? (SPRINT - $200 per line) I'm mainly concerned because it would be for 2 or 3 of my lines. Figured I'd ask here in case any of you have some secret you may know of or something that worked for you in the past???? Maybe I should try calling the customer service rep "Renegade" or "Renaissance"?? Thanks.

Yours Truly,
Steven "off topic" Fierce

Wed Nov 12, 2008 4:27 pm

I have the same question regarding the same company, Sprint. Their phones suck, their monthly billing requires a long phone call to straighten out every month. Busted phones with insurance take 3-4 weeks for replacement.

Wed Nov 12, 2008 4:29 pm

Stevie Fierce wrote: Does anyone know of any good ways to get out of your cell phone contract without HAVING to pay the early termination fee? (SPRINT - $200 per line) I'm mainly concerned because it would be for 2 or 3 of my lines. Figured I'd ask here in case any of you have some secret you may know of or something that worked for you in the past???? Maybe I should try calling the customer service rep "Renegade" or "Renaissance"?? Thanks.

Yours Truly,
Steven "off topic" Fierce

Join the army and deploy to combat... worked for me

Wed Nov 12, 2008 4:52 pm

hey 73 ghia.... weird, i was in bel air, md on sunday.

Wed Nov 12, 2008 5:08 pm

Odd. I have an ATT personal cell phone, and a Sprint work cell phone. My work phone has better signal (my ATT cuts out once in a while), and any issue i've had with the phone itself gets fixed same day at the local sprint repair building. Dropping it off rooftops appears to take its toll on a phone I guess. At least here in SLC, UT, I highly prefer Sprint over ATT.

Wed Nov 12, 2008 5:10 pm

Stevie Fierce wrote: hey 73 ghia.... weird, i was in bel air, md on sunday.

Small world aint it?

Wed Nov 12, 2008 5:41 pm

if your are getting bad reception in the area you purchased the phone then you can have it canceled. You will have to go through some BS to prove that the bad reception is for real. So what you have to do is find a place where the reception is bad and tell them that is where you make most of your calls and it is not working out for you. they are supposed to come and check. <---- all from 'what i have heard' so take it with a grain of salt.

My personal experience was with Alltell (mother f'ers) I got my service in Durham, nc. then one year later moved to Norther california. Alltell has no towers in norther california and no office location. Thus, horrible service. they would not cancel my account because they said they had gurranteed service in the location of which the service was purchased.

I even tried the technique of calling and harassing the reps for hours on end ( two hours every weekend for three weeks)they never caved. I ended up paying out until the end of the contract.

Wed Nov 12, 2008 6:52 pm

That's a bit disturbing because Alltell advertises the heck out of Northern California.

As far as dumping service, you might be able to swap the service with a someone who wants it. There have been and probably still are websites that hook up folks trying to swap providers mid contract for exactly the reasons you wish to dump yours.

Wed Nov 12, 2008 6:55 pm

Faustuss wrote: That's a bit disturbing because Alltell advertises the heck out of Northern California.

they kept telling that they were bringing service to Ncal in the future. Its been 9 months. I still have not seen any service. They could not even get me a local number.

Wed Nov 12, 2008 7:02 pm

squeaky wheel gets the grease.

Call them several time a day. Do it during your breaks or while on the can. Sooner of later your log on their computer gets to be ridiculously huge and they will find a way to dump you. But for this method to work you must have plenty of time and patience.

You cant call up and be rude. Always be polite but persistent.

Wed Nov 12, 2008 7:06 pm

Mark33563 wrote:

You cant call up and be rude. Always be polite but persistent.

I was a complete asshole. Although i was justified as every business call I made was dropped... In retrospect, I should have remained calm. Oh well.

Wed Nov 12, 2008 8:03 pm

I think Verizon is buying Alltell so maybe thats when you'll get your service in No Cal.

make sure you read the comments at the bottom of the page before anyone rants this was two years ago :D

http://roobaroo.net/2006/08/21/cancel-sprint-contract-without-paying-an-early-termination-fee/

Wed Nov 12, 2008 9:39 pm

wgargan wrote: Mark33563 wrote:

You cant call up and be rude. Always be polite but persistent.

I was a complete asshole. Although i was justified as every business call I made was dropped... In retrospect, I should have remained calm. Oh well.

YOU had a right to be pissed. You bought a Harbor freight brew kit. Give em hell! :lol: (Couldn't help it).

Thu Nov 13, 2008 12:12 am

Do what I do. Don't have one. That way, I never have a complaint with my cell phone service.

I made a vow: Until they invent a cell phone stocked with free booze and cigars, no cell phone for Tram. [-(

Who would call me, anyways?

Thu Nov 13, 2008 1:26 am

So I know a guy who knows a guy that used to work for Sprint customer service. If you signed a piece of paper in a store agreeing to a contract, then there is little you can do about the contract. However if you agree to a new contract over the phone, they patch you through to an automated agreement....thing. There is no actual signature. The whole time they worked there they were unsure how they enforced that and I don't think that they can. Just insist that you never agreed to it. But like I said, if you signed a piece of paper, your hosed.

As for moving to an area with no service.....if Sprint couldn't provide service there then service would be cancelled without a fee. I don't know about other companies. But if they can't even give you a phone # in your new area it seems like a no brainer.

So for Sprint, I would try to find a town in podunk somewhere that has no Sprint service. Tell them that you are moving to an address in that town and provide said address but tell them that you still need your billing address to remain the same.

Ok, I spent 5 minutes first looking at sprintpcs.com for their coverage, or lack there of. In the southeast corner of Montana there is nothing. I google mapped it and there is a town: Broadus, MT. I googled that and there popped up an address: 101 N Park Ave. Braodus, MT 59317. So again, tell them that you are moving there, they won't be able to provide service for you and you will end your contract with no fee. Just make sure that you tell them you need to continue to receive your mail at your old, really current, address. Or if you have a buddy or relative you can send your final Sprint bill to, use that. You can explain to them that at the new address you will be getting a p.o. box but don't have one yet so you can't receive mail there.

Sorry, kinda lengthy but I hope this helps.

Thu Nov 13, 2008 3:30 am

Sprint was sued over there early termination fees earlier this year (as well as all the other major cell services) and had to pay out a large settlement. A California judge deemed the fees illegal. Well illegal in California. If you don't live in Cali i would suggest doing some research in your area and see if maybe there is a class action lawsuit that you can get in on. I'm not 100% sure if the ruling has been appealed or taken to a federal level yet. Thought this might help a little bit though

http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/99655

Thu Nov 13, 2008 4:32 am

pow_rider17 wrote: So I know a guy who knows a guy that used to work for Sprint customer service. If you signed a piece of paper in a store agreeing to a contract, then there is little you can do about the contract. However if you agree to a new contract over the phone, they patch you through to an automated agreement....thing. There is no actual signature. The whole time they worked there they were unsure how they enforced that and I don't think that they can. Just insist that you never agreed to it. But like I said, if you signed a piece of paper, your hosed.

As for moving to an area with no service.....if Sprint couldn't provide service there then service would be cancelled without a fee. I don't know about other companies. But if they can't even give you a phone # in your new area it seems like a no brainer.

So for Sprint, I would try to find a town in podunk somewhere that has no Sprint service. Tell them that you are moving to an address in that town and provide said address but tell them that you still need your billing address to remain the same.

Ok, I spent 5 minutes first looking at sprintpcs.com for their coverage, or lack there of. In the southeast corner of Montana there is nothing. I google mapped it and there is a town: Broadus, MT. I googled that and there popped up an address: 101 N Park Ave. Braodus, MT 59317. So again, tell them that you are moving there, they won't be able to provide service for you and you will end your contract with no fee. Just make sure that you tell them you need to continue to receive your mail at your old, really current, address. Or if you have a buddy or relative you can send your final Sprint bill to, use that. You can explain to them that at the new address you will be getting a p.o. box but don't have one yet so you can't receive mail there.

Sorry, kinda lengthy but I hope this helps.

this sounds pretty good, thank you. especially the part about not signing something. all my agreements/contract extensions were verbal over the phone.

Thu Nov 13, 2008 10:12 pm

I have bailed out on Sprint, ATT and a few others because of bad coverage. Like someone stated before, find a bad reception area and tell them to check it. They may or may not check it, but if they don't have a reliable signal in that place, they will cancel you for free. Usually, in between some good hills or near airports work pretty good. Good luck. Make sure to tell them that you make and receive most of your calls there.

Fri Nov 14, 2008 2:03 pm

Stevie Fierce wrote: Does anyone know of any good ways to get out of your cell phone contract without HAVING to pay the early termination fee? (SPRINT - $200 per line) I'm mainly concerned because it would be for 2 or 3 of my lines. Figured I'd ask here in case any of you have some secret you may know of or something that worked for you in the past???? Maybe I should try calling the customer service rep "Renegade" or "Renaissance"?? Thanks.

Yours Truly,
Steven "off topic" Fierce

No, that's your punishment for signing up with sprint. :)

My best friend has Sprint, and they are trying to get rid of HIM! His phone gets no reception where he lives...but it might get one bar "roaming." So after literally dozens of hours of bitching, they reduced his rate. Then gave him more free minutes. He now has two phones/lines and 1000 anytime minutes for like $60/month. He always uses the roaming minutes, because he's roaming in his living room!! they have sent him letters and called him trying to get rid of him because they are either not making money off him, or losing it.

Moral of the story: Friends dont let friends use Sprint.

Fri Nov 14, 2008 4:43 pm

I have sprint for work and it sucks.

Every time sprint asks me if I will pay analog roam charges I say yes.

The shit of it is the company I work for has Verizon as a big customer like 1.5 mil a year and we Don't use em?