So You’ve Decided To Join The Army Just To Cancel Your Cellphone

Image courtesy of

We've noted that one "tactic" to leave your cellphone is joining the armed services, and Davros, a former cellphone call rep sent in some rockets red glare to illuminate the particulars.

We’ve noted that one “tactic” to leave your cellphone is joining the armed services, and Davros, a former cellphone call rep sent in some rockets red glare to illuminate the particulars.

“Just joining the army is not enough. You have to be called to “active duty”. That is to say sent away somewhere on a specific mission/deployment. A solider can cancel the contract without penalty under the right circumstances, but will still owe any normal usage fees up to that point. If a collection agency was sent after the solider the collection agency has to stop pursuing the matter until the solider returns, but the money can still be collected eventually.”

There’s an added bonus to escaping contract: you’ll also learn valuable technical and leadership skills that employers are looking for in the post-apocalyptic future.

After the jump, a few more words from Davros about how carefully the cellphone company looks at those marching orders you present as evidence. Think forged doctor’s notes…

“At AT&T Wireless (AWS) the reps had the power to not ask for documentation and just cancel. As getting the documentation requires more time and effort than not getting it, it was never asked for. The documentation that we could ask for was a copy of the orders. These orders usually had a number on them. On a rare occasion a rep might record the numbers from the order in the customers notes. We had no way to confirm them though. Any series of numbers would do.”

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.