consumerist kit

Verizon Makes Canceling Over Their Txt Msg Hike Impossible

    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.

What it should say is: “Go ahead and call us, we’ll just argue that our changes do not constitute a ‘material adverse effect’, despite the fact that we were required to send you something called a “Legal Notice,” which sounds suspiciously like the sort of “Notice” we’re referring to in our Customer Agreement. Neener, neener, neener.”

Tax Tip: Free Tax Guide

It covers:

An Argument For Index Funds

An Argument For Index Funds

FreeMoneyFinance has a nice piece on why he invests mainly in index funds.

Tax Tip: Deduct Your Cell Phone

    Depreciation on Computers or Cell Phones

Search Amazon For Deals Up To 90% Off

Search Amazon For Deals Up To 90% Off

Why go to the trouble of manually hacking Amazon’s URLs to search for bargains when we’ve got all the messy work done for you?

New Tools For The Consumerist Kit

New Tools For The Consumerist Kit

Wireless Number Portability: How to Keep Your Number

Wireless Number Portability: How to Keep Your Number

As you may know, the FCC requires providers to provide the “ability to change service providers within the same local area and still keep the same phone number.” If you want to cancel your cell phone service, you can port your number to your new service, regardless of things like “early termination fees.”

Break Your Verizon Contract Without Fee, Thanks to TXT Msg Raise

Break Your Verizon Contract Without Fee, Thanks to TXT Msg Raise

Do we sense a theme here? Verizon is raising their text message rates for those without a messaging plan. Loyal readers of this blog will know what comes next, if the rate increase constitutes a “MATERIAL ADVERSE EFFECT ON YOU” you can “CAN END THE AFFECTED SERVICE, WITHOUT ANY EARLY TERMINATION FEE”.

Cingular Arbitration Escape Script Addendum

Cingular Arbitration Escape Script Addendum

After attempting to use the, “Script For Escaping Cingular Contracts Without Fee, Based On New Arbitration Clause,” some readers reported failure, but we’ve got a possible solution.

Save Money By Putting Change In A Jar

Save Money By Putting Change In A Jar

Here’s a sure-fire way to save money.

Free International Phone Calls By Calling Iowa

Free International Phone Calls By Calling Iowa

Get free international calls to select countries by calling (712) 858-8094 and then dialing 011 + Country Code + Phone Number.

Complain To Win: 7 Stages Of Escalation

Your expectations were not met. Now you want them to fix the product, redo the service, or give you a credit. Here’s seven general stages of complaint escalation to follow.

Script For Escaping Cingular Contracts Without Fee, Based On New Arbitration Clause

Script For Escaping Cingular Contracts Without Fee, Based On New Arbitration Clause

UPDATE: We added case law to throw back at Cingular if they try to argue the change in arbitration agreement is not a material change.

Escape Your Cellphone Contract With Cellswapper

Escape Your Cellphone Contract With Cellswapper

Cellswapper is a new service launched today that lets you trade or sell your cellphone and contract, with no early termination fees.

File Taxes For Free If You Make Under $52k

You can e-file your federal taxes for free if your adjusted gross income falls below $52,000 using Free File from the IRS.

Cancel Sprint Account By Writing Intelligent Well-Crafted Emails to the CEO

Cancel Sprint Account By Writing Intelligent Well-Crafted Emails to the CEO

Reader Jason contacted us to share tips on how one can successfully resolve customer service issues by writing intelligent well-crafted emails to Gary Forsee, the CEO of Sprint. And, indeed, Jason’s emails are a cut above the usual seething buckets of bile that come squirting into our inbox.

Bell Canada Executive Customer Service Contact Info

Bell Canada Executive Customer Service Contact Info

Having trouble getting your Bell Canada customer service problems resolved? Here’s the contact info for some high Bell Canada execs that will jumpstart your quest for executive customer service.

Lifehacker Roundup

Remove furniture scratches with a walnut