Play Dead to Escape your Wireless Phone Contract

If you've signed up for a wireless phone contract and found it inappropriate for your life style, then you would probably want to get rid of it. However, you might be required to cough up a couple of hundred bucks to pay for a contract termination. A man found a simple solution to become free of his wireless contract contract. He simply staged his own death.

This solution seems logical enough. Wireless phone contracts will release a signer in the event of his or her own death. Apparently this person had experienced a lot of dropped and defective calls over the years. After paying large sums of money he wanted to close his contract without paying more money. He crafted a fake death certificate and asked a friend to fax it to his service provider's customer service. Unfortunately, the plan failed because the company caught on the forgery. The company decide to close his contract after they forced forced him to pay the termination fee.

Frustration and dissatisfaction can often be experience by those who sign long term contracts. they often feel that carriers do not provide top quality services and products. They are also unhappy with the fact that they are hooked to a service that no longer satisfies them and are required to pay a termination if they want to end their service. As a result, weird ideas may form in some subscribers minds.

In the past few years, unhappy contract subscribers have filed increasing about their lon term contracts. There have even been hearing s in congress to address these complains and any possible abuse form wireless service providers. A bill was also proposed to protect consumers from possible abuse from wireless contracts. In response to these hearings and complaints, the wireless companies have started to make changes.

The tight competition between them triggered the development of programs that would provide the best customer satisfaction. customer satisfaction is a great attraction for consumers who are bombarded by different wireless product offers.

Wireless companies have also made their contracts flexible and have allowed consumers to change their contract or pay a pro-rated termination fee instead of the fixed fee. A couple of top wireless service providers have also made announcement to open their networks to outside devices. Perhaps if these changes become more come, unsatisfied costumers will no longer come up with crazy ideas to escape their wireless contracts.

Do You Want to Swap Your Phone?

Do you have problems with your cell phone plan? That's certainly understandable since many people feel dissatisfied or too restricted with their wireless phone contract. You can choose to drop your contract by paying a termination that may be prorated depending on the carrier or provider. However, if you don't think that it's practical to pay a couple hundred bucks to be released from your cellphone contract then you should think about swapping your contract.

There are now plenty of online websites that offer this kind of service.The idea behind cellphone contract swapping is simple. Those who want to get rid of their contracts and plans would post them on a website for a small fee. Those who are interested in these plans can then browse over posted offers in the site after a free registration.

Of course, you still have to make sure that the swap is allowed by your carrier before you commit to swap your plan. If you are lucky your carrier may be able to switch you to a cheaper one without a charge. Some carriers are also not opposed to the whole cell phone contract swapping idea. For example, one carrier only require both parties to fill out the paperwork, and an account is in good standing to allow the swap. Some carriers may require the person picking up the account may still have to complete a credit report before the transfer can be completed.

It's not difficult to find people who may be interested to take your plan or swap them with you. Since an take over a contract with maybe five months or four months left on a contract instead of a year or two year plan, people like these deals. It would allow them to get a free phone or may not be force to pay for an activation fee.

Like most quick solutions, cellphone contract swapping can also present some problems for both parties. There are cell phone contracts that prohibits the signer from participating in the swapping process. And even if you are permitted to swap your plan, your carrier may still come after you if the new customer falls behind in his or her payments.

It would be best then to exercise caution and to do plenty of research when engaging in Cellphone contract swapping deals. You have to check all the aspects of the deal before you finalize it. If you go through the process quickly with going through the proper channels or with securing all the bases, then the deal might backfire on you.

Wireless Contract Changes and Congress

U.S. Congressional hearings were recently held to decide if it was best to legislate more consumer-friendly practice among wireless cell phone carriers. Perhaps rumors about this hearings prompted wireless companies, Verizon and AT&T to loosen their restrictions on wireless contract changes.

This is Verizon Wireless' policy on their right to change their contract:

UNLESS OTHERWISE PROHIBITED BY LAW, WE CAN ALSO CHANGE PRICES AND ANY OTHER CONDITIONS IN THIS AGREEMENT AT ANY TIME BY SENDING YOU WRITTEN NOTICE PRIOR TO THE BILLING PERIOD IN WHICH THE CHANGES WOULD GO INTO EFFECT. IF YOU CHOOSE TO USE YOUR SERVICE AFTER THAT POINT, YOU'RE ACCEPTING THE CHANGES. IF THE CHANGES HAVE A MATERIAL ADVERSE EFFECT ON YOU, HOWEVER, YOU CAN END THE AFFECTED SERVICE, WITHOUT ANY EARLY TERMINATION FEE, JUST BY CALLING US WITHIN 60 DAYS AFTER WE SEND NOTICE OF THE CHANGE.

And this is AT&T's policy on terms and condition changes:

These terms and conditions may be changed from time-to-time. AT&T will post the most current version of these terms and conditions at att.com/MediaTerms or other appropriate location. Please check these regularly to inform yourself about changes to the terms and conditions.

Sen. Amy Klobluchar introduced a bill that would require wireless providers to prorate fees charged to customers who cancel cell phone contracts. A two-year contract usually requires a $200 fee if a customer wants to cancel the wireless service before the contract expires. Another facet of the Sen. Klobuchar's bill demands that customers will not be forced to sign up for a contract extension if they want to make changes to their calling plans.

Verizon and AT&T have already removed the contract-extension stipulation and their customers can now change their plans without signing a new contract. Here is a statement from Verizon Wireless contract on contract-extension:

Except as explicitly permitted by this agreement, you're agreeing to maintain service with us for your minimum term. (Periods of suspension of service don't count towards fulfillment of your minimum term.) After that, you'll become a month-to-month customer under this agreement. AN EARLY TERMINATION FEE WILL APPLY IF YOU CHOOSE TO END YOUR SERVICE BEFORE BECOMING A MONTH-TO-MONTH CUSTOMER, OR IF WE TERMINATE IT EARLY FOR GOOD CAUSE. FOR SERVICE ACTIVATED PRIOR TO 11/16/06, THE EARLY TERMINATION FEE IS $175 PER WIRELESS PHONE NUMBER. FOR SERVICE ACTIVATED ON OR AFTER 11/16/06, OR FOR LINES OF SERVICE WITH MINIMUM TERMS EXTENDED ON OR AFTER 11/16/06, THE EARLY TERMINATION FEE IS $175, WHICH WILL BE REDUCED BY $5 FOR EACH FULL MONTH TOWARD YOUR MINIMUM TERM THAT YOU COMPLETE. (The Early Termination Fee applies only to the extent permitted by law. If you buy your wireless phone from an authorized agent or third-party vendor, you should check to see if they charge a separate termination fee.) If you terminate your service as of the end of your minimum term, you won't be responsible for any remaining part of your monthly billing cycle. Otherwise, all terminations by you during a monthly billing cycle become effective on the last day of that billing cycle. You'll remain responsible for all fees and charges incurred until then and won't be entitled to any partial month credits or refunds. You may be able to take, or "port," your current wireless phone number to another service provider. If you request your new service provider to port a number from us, and we receive your request from that new service provider, we'll treat it as notice from you to terminate our service for that number upon successful completion of porting. After the porting is completed, you won't be able to use our service for that number. You'll remain responsible for any Early Termination Fee, and for all fees and charges through the end of that billing cycle, just like any other termination. If you're porting a phone number to us from another company, we may not be able to provide you some services, such as 911 location services, immediately.

Some experts see the loosening up of wireless contracts as peace offerings so Congress will not see a need for regulating the business of wireless cell phone companies. Well, only time will tell if lawmakers will agree with that notion. Many consumers have filed more complaints with Better Business Bureau about the wireless industry so maybe the recent changes are a move in the right direction. As a wireless customer, I have to agree with that.

Wireless Carrier Contract Policy Change

Wireless carrier's contracts or terms and conditions do not change very often. However, due to unseen circumstances or changes in the wireless industry, the top wireless carriers have decided to make adjustments on their contracts.

A good example would be the Verizon Wireless policy change that was made on the month of March of last year. The wireless giant became the first cellular carrier to pro rate its termination fees over the life of the contract in the history of the wireless industry.

And a month ago, another wireless industry giant followed Verizon Wireless policy change. AT&T another leading wireless carrier also announced that it will no longer charge customers a flat termination fee if they cancel their service before their contract is up. This new contract policy will be implemented into in early 2008.

AT&T will pro rate the fee depending on how many months the customer has left on their contract. The company has also made the decision not to require customers to renew contracts when making changes to their wireless service plans.

The wireless sales and marketing division of AT&T explained that the policy change was done to accommodate the demand of consumers. They have acknowledge that wireless consumers dislike one-size-fits-all approaches and thus they have made changes to remedy the problem.

Wireless customers have long been complaining about contract termination fees and upgrade fees. They have to pay anywhere from $175 to $250 to cancel a contract before its expiration date which is obviously a burden to those who have tight budgets.

They view as measures designed to retain customers and prevent them from seeking better deals elsewhere. Industry representatives expressed that fees are necessary to subsidize the costs of handsets.

Hopefully, the contract policy change made by AT&T will encourage similar adjustments from other wireless carriers. Perhaps they will also consider the difficulties posed by ontract termination fees and upgrade fees to their loyal customers.

Some Consumer Contract Complains

I have gather some consumer contract complaints from the Internet. These are complaints on the contracts of various wireless carriers, I will also publish links to these carrier's customer service so that you can contact them if you have similar complaints. I will not mention the carriers names to show that I am not favoring any particular carrier.


Darelen of Brooks Lane, NC complained that her wireless carrier is,

"charging me for service I have cancelled six months ago. I am no longer under contract but they refuse to cancel my cell phone account. I joined under a family plan with my brother and they say he needs to sign me off the account (the bill comes under my name to my address) but refuse to send him the paperwork. He has directly requested this from them twice to my knowledge."

Alina of Secaucus NJ complained that her carrier,

"sent a bill for $746.52 (!) saying that the contract had expired a month ago, and all calls were billed at 60 c/min afterward. They have not notified me in advance that they were going to do that. It is responsibility of (Wireless Carrier) to communicate any changes to the customer clearly and unambiguously. I have never been contacted directly and would have never agreed to any change in rates if I had, much less for a 15-fold hike.

I have tried to resolve it several times with(Wireless Carrier) customer service. I was offered to sign up for another year of service with them and then they promised to clear this charge! I'm seeking to have all calls rebilled at the agreed rate, which should bring the bill down to $49.99 The said they do it to everybody as a matter of business practice. I believe that (Wireless Carrier) wireless tries to coerce customers to use their service and I wish more people knew about it."

Ken Chan complained that,

"On the last day of my contract (March 31), I called to terminate the service. I was told that it can be terminated it as it is the end of the contract. Today I received another bill charging me for the April usage. I called their representative, I was told that I can only terminate at the end of the billing cycle (not the end of the contract), which is from March 28 to April 27. First of all, I don't quite understand that why the billing cycle started two days before the starting date of the contract. If one has to terminate at the end of this billing cycle, then effectively the contract was extended to 1 year and 1 month (that was not the original agreement, which is one year).

I had been looking forward to the termination of the contract, as the cell phone did not work at my office in NYC at all (no coverage). It's essentially a piece of junk. For the past year I have used perhaps less than a hour in total. I have complained about the reception problem many times. What makes it even more absurd is that I can not even terminate after the end of the contract. Is the usual billing cycle set up as a trap? The representative I called refuse to cancel the charge of the additional month's service. This is totally unacceptable and completely unexpected."

From an anonymous consumer,

"My brother passed away suddenly in December. I have been dealing with his estate since. Most creditors have been easy to deal with and have even offered their condolences. (Wireless Carrier) is an exception.

I contacted (Wireless Carrier) to cancel his cell phone service. I spent over forty minutes on the phone. First I went through fifteen minutes of being on hold. Then I spoke with Alex. He was a bit gruff with me and didn't understand why I did not have the account phone number memorized. I told him I called him and he should have the number. I also explained I had not received a bill from (Wireless Carrier) since his passing in mid-December. I had to look his number up on my own cell phone.

Eventually Alex passed me off to another department, staffed by the lovely Marie. Marie would not cancel the account either and when I started explaining how an $80 bill was not worth (Wireless Carrier) time going after my brother's estate in probate court she claimed she could not hear me, repeatedly. I told her it must the the (Wireless Carrier) network quality service. I live in a major city and had full bars.

Marie's claims of hearing impediment led me to ask for her manager. I spoke with Kevin. He eventually asked to call me back on a land line. I told him to call me back on my brother's phone. In the end, all he would do was put the account on "vacation", still charging $5.95 per month. I still do not understand why he would not cancel it since I had all the passwords they wanted. (Wireless Carrier) will not get a payment from the estate unless they pursue it in probate. They will spend more money on the paperwork."

Now that you have read the contract complaints here are the customer service information of major wireless carrier's:

• Click here for Sprint customer service.
• Click here for AT&T customer service.
  
• Click here for T-Mobile customer service.
• Click here for Verizon Wireless customer service.
• Click here for Cricket customer service.
• Click here for Alltell customer service.

I hope that this post will be able to help solve your wireless contract complaints and problems.