A new 19 cent Sprint roaming rate increase means customers can cancel contract without early termination fee, as long as they meet these conditions:
1. Your plan must not include roaming.
2. You must call within 30 days of the rate change.
3. You must specifically cite the roaming rate change being a material adverse change of contract as the reason for cancellation.
4. You must not pay your bill that reflects the new rates until AFTER requesting cancellation
5. If they offer you a grandfathered roaming rate or free roaming attached to your plan, you must refuse.
6. If the rep is poorly trained and wants to hot-potato you to a supervsor rather than transfer you to account services, you must insist that you want to cancel service despite any potential fees so the rep gets you to the group that actually knows the correct procedures.
If arguing isn’t your thing, you could always figure out a way to spend 50%+ of your minutes while roaming…
We have vetted this information with a well-placed Sprint insider. — BEN POPKEN
(Thanks to Ben!)
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I did it! I did it!
It only took me 1 phone call!!!
The person I spoke to tried to use most of the ploys cited above:
“Would you like a plan in which roaming is free? How about a new phone?” (NO and NO)
“You’re not using roaming, so the change doesn’t affect you.” (To which I replied that I have used roaming in the past, and I cited a specific area in my state where I travel that has a large Sprint-dead-zone.)
“You’re too late- you’re not calling within 30 days of your notification of the change.” (I read to her from the Terms and Conditions that Sprint says to “call us within 30 days after the effective date of the change” in order to cancel your contract. EFFECTIVE DATE, not NOTIFICATION DATE.)
I restated “materially adverse change to the original contract” several times- and now I get to port my number as long as I do it before September 9th!!!!!
Just canceled my Sprint contract without EFT..
I have over the past couple of months used roaming and I do not have roaming included in my plan.
I dialed *2 and said “cancel”
I got an american CSR and explained that I occasionally roam and cannot afford the increase in the new rate. I was very polite and asked to be let out the contract without the EFT(pointed out this was not what we agreed upon when I started service). She pulled up my account and noted that I do roam and then proceeded to look for the rate increase.
I was put on hold and she came back after about 2 to 5 minutes and informed me that I could indeed cancel the contract. She first tried to offer me a roaming plan and tell me that I just signed a new contract this June (I hadnt).
I still had more than a year left on my phone contract with sprint (and this was a family plan with two phones)
They told me I have about a month to port my numbers.
I think the key is being calm, getting an american csr, apprearing sincerely knowledgable and reasonable.
This took about 15 minutes total.
I hope this helps
I called on 8/17 and got through almost immediately. I told a CSR rep about my problem (adverse material change), he offered free roaming. I told him it wouldn’t really help with my problem, as my work takes me to a part of the county with poor Sprint reception so not only am I paying roaming but my battery is drained by the end of the workday. He said it didn’t sound like there was anything that he could offer, I said I didn’t think it would help. He said to fax an ID with address to a fax number and they’d waive the ETF. I did so (and blanked out some info they didn’t need). Trying to get back in touch with someone to confirm, haven’t had much luck. Speak of the devil, I’ve got one on the line now. Seems the first CSR didn’t get things set up correctly, and had I not called back, I would have been hit with a $400 charge for terminating two lines. Also interestingly, he said the ETF will appear on my bill but I’m to call as soon as I get it and it’ll be adjusted. I’m a touch leery, but this guy seems very helpful. Be sure to follow up, don’t just assume they did it correctly!
I have never used roaming before with my 7.5 years with sprint service and this still worked as a valid concern for canceling the contract.
The American representative that I spoke with tried the “You only have 2-weeks from notification of the change” on me. I quickly came back with “I have the Terms & Conditions on my computer screen right now. I would be happy to email you a link with the wording in question highlighted.”
The only response was “I’m sorry, our email server is down right now, otherwise I Would.”
-How convenient-I thought
After all the ploys; new phone, free roaming, discounted plan, & me telling him “I’d rather pay $.50 for a phone call than $.69 for a sprint call”, he obliged and claimed..Due to circumstances, we will allow this.
If you are going to try this, do it fast, the 30 days is quickly approaching.
All:
Many thanks for the helpful insight and discussion on this thread. I am now rid of Sprint.
After agreeing by phone to a no-fee termination, they added $200/phone to my bill for each of my 3 phones. Sprint has a serious integrity problem…
Long story short, I’m an attorney and knew the scoop here was dead on. After a few frustrating attempts, I finally got a female customer service rep who agreed to allow me to port to T-Mobile and rescind the $600 in spurious charges. And, I got it in writing. (They were threatening to dork up my credit. The technical legal term for companies that do business this way is “slim.”)
Many thanks to y’all!
OB
UPDATE:
Since my last post I received my actual final bill. Turns out, they charged me termination fees anyway. I argued for two months, in the mean time they sent my bill to a collection agency and told me that I had to deal with them now. So I called the collection agency and told them my situation and they dropped the extra charges including the late fees I had incurred in the mean time. They also assured me that this would not show up on my credit report.
BOTTOM LINE: F Sprint. They suck. Liars. Cheats. Period.
hey ive been searching every-site, and cant find the answer, im on a family plan 5 lines, 1500 minutes with nextel, i dont know if they have roaming or not but i know i went to canada last month and got charged for making a call (roaming). will i be able to get out of my contract or this only for sprint users??
thanks to anyone who can answer