Heh I like how they called the cops, yet it is perfectly legal for him to do this.

@Saboth: I think you meant to post here.

That is beautiful~ that's how I got out of my Sprint contract. In my personal experience, a little nudge from the BBB ensures it goes smoothly.

@Ben Popken: I was wondering about that...

@Ben Popken:

That's really weird, I didn't even open the T-mobile post!
But yup, I meant to post in the other thread.

Heh. I wonder if Sprint's rates are going up. Would be a good chance to cancel.

Actually it looks like the pictures are swapped on the stories now.

They'll try to hold you in if you've got any sort of a text messaging plan. When we left Verizon, we had 4 phones on our family plan and two of them had ~200 messages/month or something along those lines. The CSRs tried to argue that because they had text messaging plans, there was nothing materially adverse to those phones and thus should get charged the ETF. However, the counter to that is that if you go over your allotment you get charged, and thus is materially adverse to you (it helps if you've gone over a couple of times to emphasize the point).

I wonder how long until they address this little loophole.

Something like: "We reserve the right to change service fees at any time without notification" should just about do it.

I'm just starting a new job where they will provide me with a cellphone. I'm going to try to get them to give me a stipend for it and I can just keep my TM number and upgrade a few things (Something about a federal ruling on business cellphones being part of pay now?). In the event of this failing, I don't really want to have two phones.

I have unlimited texting with TM now. Is there any way I could possibly use this to get out of my contract?

@Prions: just a matter of time.

I would suggest to readers interested in going through with this to do it sooner rather than later. With the verizon admin charge increase, people had luck early on, and then the legal dept clued all the centers in on the "policy" (not contract law). At that point, you will have to try your luck in arbitration, where the law doesn't count, just what's fair (for verizon).

@secretoftheeast: Okay, I rambled a bit, but my advice still stands.

Everybody talks about how to get out of most of the carriers...when you get out, where do you go to?

@girly: I would like to know the same thing! They all suck as far as I'm concerned....

Hi -

I'm a t-mo customer, how do i cancel (get out of contract)?

Can I then re-up without an annual contract? How?

Thanks!

Hi... How would you go about canceling service/get out of contract and could you then re-subscribe w/out a contract (month to month or whatever)?

WOOT. Worked. I called and like he said about the plans. They never canceled the txt plan that was on the number. However it was only for 400 msgs. I argued that If i go over im still getting charged more. She still refused. And didnt like me using the term "materialy adverse" :)

I asked for a supervisor. I was on hold for a min. Then she comes back saying that she talked to him and got permission to waive the fee. One more for the little guy.

If you have a phone already and cancel. then you could then reup. However with a new number. possible activation fees and such. Maybe have to buy a new sim card also. Just be careful on which plan you choose. Some Tmo plans require the contract agreement.

Didn't they just raise their fee not too long ago? That's how I got out in the first place.

Like girly says, where do you go from T-Mobile?

AT&T? Ha.
Verizon? Double Ha.
SPRINT? hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha......

While T-Mobile is no cellular messiah, it's probably the best of a bad lot.

I agree with the others here... I saw this post and figured it's a great way to escape T-Mobile, but then I researched the other carriers and found that I wouldn't be better off anywhere else.

:-(

I have Sprint (8+ years)! LOL!

FTW!!!

AT&T since 2002 though. But I love it for the little guy :)

I would also like to know about using this to simply escape my contract and go month to month. Suggestions?

and I should do this and switch to ATT/VZ/S/etc because. . . ?

CDMA phones only work in the US, ruling out VZ/S, and ATT has no signal in my office building. Before my colleague dropped his iPhone into a cup of coffee (srsly, that's hard to do) and killed it, he had to go outside to get a signal, same as with the RAZR before it.

so T-Mo it is. my contract expires in Nov, I hardly use SMS anyway, and I'm not getting an iFone, so there's no point really.

FAIL!
First level tech and supervisor rejected my request.
I tried the standard argument points (politely, of course), and their general response was: (paraphrase) "The contract includes a clause that allows us to change the rates at any point."
Any advice?

@animatedantmo: I can all but gurantee that won't fly. Don't let that stop you from trying though!

@Yoni K: Can they direct you to that portion of the contract? Since I'm gong to presume that you aren't on the phone with them right now, see if you have your contract hardcopy in a file somewhere

@animatedantmo: That probably won't fly. Dosen't mean you can't try.

@Yoni K: Look over the hardcopy of your contract and see if it says that (or anything they could interpret as that). Also ask them if they can direct you to the portion of the contract that contains this exclusion.

I tried this with US Cellular a while back when they changed their text message plans. I argued with them for a while about it over the exact premise of the "materially adverse change of contract" and they laughed at me. I was given the runaround for a while nothing ever came of it, and then I ended up buying a new phone :|

Does anyone know if it's possible to cancel your contract and then go month-to-month?

This prompted me to call TMO to ask again if it was possible to cancel all text messages (I don't really want to drop TMO because, while they suck a little, they suck less than anybody else - they're far cheaper, the coverage isn't bad enough to notice a difference, and they've got that unlimited wifi calling that makes all my calling from the home phone free)

The CSR didn't say no like I expected. Instead he said "not yet" and said that starting in July TMO is giving a lot more control of text messages to its customers - you'll be able block all of them (which I'm planning to do) or block incoming or outgoing, or even limit a line to a certain number of texts per month, above which the rest are blocked.

I'm not psyched about being locked to a contract anymore than anybody else, but if the alternative is one of the even-worse cell phone companies, I'll stay here.

I just had Verizon for 2 years and the coverage wasn't much better and it cost 10-15% more. I had AT&T for a short time years ago but they were such liars and thieves that I canceled almost immediately and will never do cell business with them again. What's left? Sprint? Yeah, right.

U.S. Cell was the other company I looked at when I switched but they couldn't come close to competing with TMO on price.

GoBobbyGo, my experiences mimic yours. I called and was quite polite to the CSR and explained my situation. Honestly, I use text-messaging infrequently (between my wife and I sharing pictures of our daughters) and there is no solution to effectively mitigate the text spam (even after changing the MMS email address to not use NPANPXX format and disabling Internet->SMS messaging) I still get SMS spam from time to time. It's hard to justify the rate increase and paying for spam. The CSR spoke of the option to disable SMS messaging (something I called about and requested when I initially established service and was told they could not do as requested because their billing system and notification system depended on messaging). I also heard the July time-frame for more granular controls of SMS.

I hate being forced to pay for spam. T-Mobile is a great carrier and the state-side CSR/support is much nicer than speaking with CSRs overseas.

Now if I can only get out of my Sprint contract that's not up until 2010

Eh, this is cool, but I don't really have an incentive to do it. I like T-mobiles service, and since I wouldn't be able to get another phone with the new 2-year pricing from them for like 6-months after the end of the contract, where does that leave me. Verizon and AT&T are both more expensive and have more annoying policies. I thought about the idea of getting an iPhone 3G, but while I pay $65 for 1000min unlimited n/w, unlimited data, and 400sms/mo, it would be $95 on AT&T for 950min unlimited n/w, unlimited data, and 200sms/mo. Pretty clearly inferior. I'd rather just buy one for $400 or whatever on eBay and unlock it for T-mobile. My Blackberry is working well enough for me that the only phone I would even really consider moving to is the iPhone.

Done. My wife and I are both month-to-month now.

@geeniusatwrok: Um, no. Actually, CDMA covers North and South America as well as Asia (and Israel). If that's why you're not considering Verizon/Sprint, don't let that stop you.

So much of this depends on who you talk to and what store you do it at. My fiance had to get our phones at a certain store to get a retailer discount, but we have had everything else done at a Verizon store I've been working with for 8+ years. They're very good, and they'll get stuff done with you right there, applying discounts or refunds, doing warranty repairs or replacements on the spot... and even bending the rules a little (such as we had a phone die in the middle of a contract, but since we'd only bought 1 new phone and kept 1 phone from the previous contract, they let us upgrade the other one for the same price as signing a new contract while not extending the contract). Stuff like that sure keeps us going back there!

@winter_in_asia: Done? Can you please tell us how you did this? Thanks.

The TMONews blog is "an unofficial T-Mobile blog". So how can we verify that this is really true. Although I do trust you guys (at Lifehacker) but I didn't find any such news on the Tmobile website. Many of us here have questions like:
1. How exactly can one get out of the ETF? By just calling T-Mobile CSR? And say what?
2. What if the CSR says that it's mentioned in the contract as Yoni K mentioned?
3. Can one cancel the contract (if that can be done) and still be on a month-to-month plan?

It'll be of great help if someone can REALLY post answers to all these questions.
Much thanks.

Does anyone have a copy of a T-Mobile contract in PDF or Doc that they can link or e-mail for print-out. I want to try this tonight.

Thanks.

I tried contacting the consumerist about this on Unicel. Unicel is also increasing they texting fees.

[img399.imageshack.us]

#7 Of the CTIA Consumer Code
"7. Provide customers the right to terminate service for changes to contract terms. Carriers will not modify the material terms of their subscribers' contracts in a manner that is materially adverse to subscribers without providing a reasonable advance notice of a proposed modification and allowing subscribers a time period of not less than 14 days to cancel their contracts with no early termination fee.

@fourinxchange: go to www.mytmobile.com (no need to log in). At the bottom, select "terms and conditions".

Section 3 says:

Changes to the Agreement or Charges. EXCEPT TO THE EXTENT PROHIBITED BY LAW, IF WE: (A) INCREASE THE CHARGES INCLUDED IN YOUR MONTHLY RECURRING ACCESS RATE PLAN, OR (B) MODIFY A MATERIAL TERM OF OUR AGREEMENT WITH YOU AND THE MODIFICATION WOULD BE MATERIALLY ADVERSE TO YOU, WE WILL NOTIFY YOU OF THE INCREASE OR MODIFICATION AND YOU CAN CANCEL THAT SERVICE WITHOUT PAYING A CANCELLATION FEE (WHICH IS YOUR ONLY REMEDY) BY FOLLOWING THE CANCELLATION INSTRUCTIONS IN THE NOTICE. IF YOU DO NOT CANCEL YOUR SERVICE BY FOLLOWING THOSE INSTRUCTIONS, OR YOU OTHERWISE ACCEPT THE CHANGE, THEN YOU AGREE TO THE INCREASE OR MODIFICATION, EVEN IF YOU PAID FOR SERVICE IN ADVANCE. IF THE NOTICE DOES NOT SAY HOW LONG YOU HAVE TO CANCEL, THEN IT IS WITHIN 14 DAYS AFTER THE DATE OF THE NOTICE, UNLESS A LONGER PERIOD IS REQUIRED BY LAW. EXCEPT TO THE EXTENT PROHIBITED BY LAW, CHARGES FOR PRODUCTS, SERVICES, OPTIONAL SERVICES, OR ANY OTHER CHARGES THAT ARE NOT INCLUDED IN YOUR MONTHLY RECURRING ACCESS RATE PLAN (SUCH AS DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE, ROAMING, DOWNLOADS, AND THIRD-PARTY CONTENT) ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE AT ANY TIME WITHOUT NOTICE, AND IF YOU CONTINUE TO USE THOSE SERVICES, OR YOU OTHERWISE AGREE TO THE CHANGES, THEN YOU AGREE TO THE NEW CHARGES. VISIT OUR WEB SITE, RETAIL LOCATIONS, OR CALL CUSTOMER CARE FOR CURRENT CHARGES. (emphasis added)

If someone can tell me how they managed to leverage that into staying on and going month-to-month, I'd be much obliged.

Again, I'm pretty happy with TMO, but it's always better to be out of contract than in it.

@graphikartistry: 1. just call and cancel.
2. no. if you cancel you have to wait 90 days to open up a new account or they're reopen your original one and the contract sticks.

you can view the terms and conditions on www.t-mobile.com.

the company will not hassle you or take you to the cleaners because you tried to use this as a way out,they're Tmobile, they will sweet talk you out of it but they will be respectful. i would consider your options first. other carriers charge just as much for text messages but their text messaging features are more expensive--not to mention rate plans.

@linus: no it is not possible to cancel your contract and go month to month. not for the text messaging hike. they're reducing the etf by how long you have been on the contract so eventually it won't cost much if you chose to cancel--this means the committment isn't as scary.

@geeniusatwrok:

CDMA is not US only.

[www.cdg.org]

I hope T-Mobile is instituting more control over txt messaging for people who don't want or need it because as it stands now, if some random person gets your number and sends you them, you're liable for the charges.

It's a huge fleecing of the customer and T-Mobile has shown no interest in siding or helping the consumer other than adding more charges to their bill which helps pad T-Mobile's revenue.

And for T-Mobile corporate that reads this, I have no problem fighting with your customer service reps over three txt messages that I received, but did not want. I couldn't give two craps if I waste a few of your corporate dollars in wages, benefits, and taxes on your CSRs so they can deal with my issue. You eff with me, I'll eff with your people and time until I'm satisfied. The only justification I can think of is that T-Mobile hopes their customers just pay the bill so they can make a little extra money.

@Hawk07: See above - they are giving customers more control over text messaging. Which I haven't heard about any other provider doing. The CSR I spoke to this evening said it would be effective July 12.

@GoBobbyGo: That's the catch. Read carefully... "MODIFY A MATERIAL TERM OF OUR AGREEMENT WITH YOU AND THE MODIFICATION WOULD BE MATERIALLY ADVERSE TO YOU, WE WILL NOTIFY YOU OF THE INCREASE OR MODIFICATION AND YOU CAN CANCEL THAT SERVICE WITHOUT PAYING A CANCELLATION FEE"

"That service", which means that if you have been paying 10c for each text then now you will pay 20c. But, yes, they will have to come up with a solution that one can disable text messaging on the plan, which currently is not in place. Hence you can tell the CSR that you would like to disable text messaging; and in case they cannot do it then they are obliged to cancel your contract without charging an ETF.
Any thoughts?

@Prions and @Pro-Pain: I don't think it would apply here since it is contract law. It's the law that would need changing, not the contract wording.

Am I right on this?

@screwywabbit:

I called in and said that I had heard about the rate change and would like to cancel my contract without an ETF because of the "Materially Adverse" change to the contract.

It took maybe 10 minutes. Be sure and use the words "Materially Adverse" and make sure the CSR notes that there should be no ETF.

I actually told them that it would be to their benefit to switch me to Month to Month as opposed to canceling outright. I told them I had thought about staying with them (which is true), but that I would be happy to move to another carrier if forced to do so. They switched me to Month to Month. The CSR had to get permission to do it, though.