Flood waters recently tore through Ellicott City, MD, forcing some businesses to close up shop. One store says Comcast tried to rub salt in this fresh wound by demanding it pay hundreds of dollars to cancel service it can no longer use. [More]
early termination fees
Dish Wants $400 To Let Daughter Cancel Dead Mom’s Account
By 2.5.16
When an aging parent can no longer take care of their own bills, it’s not unusual for a son or daughter to take the reins on those accounts to make sure things get paid. And when that parent eventually passes away, the grown child should be able to close that account without a problem — unless it’s Dish, apparently. [More]
Comcast Hits Man With $2,789 Fee For Moving To Area Not Served By Comcast
By 11.19.14
When a Tennessee graphic designer decided to move an hour away, Comcast originally told him that he could move his business-class service and even set up an appointment for installation. But when the Comcast installer never showed up, the company finally told the man that (A) his new address wasn’t served by Comcast and (B) he owes the company nearly $3,000 in early termination fees. [More]
Verizon Has Made It More Expensive To Get Out Of Your Wireless Plan Early
By 11.14.14
Verizon Wireless has updated its Customer Agreement to change how it handles early termination fees for people who cancel their service while still under contract. But rather than simply jacking up the total amount you would have to pay, Verizon now has an 8-month delay before the total begins to decrease. [More]
Sprint Now Offering To Pay Up To $350 In ETFs For People Willing To Switch To One Of Its Framily Thingies
By 4.4.14
Months after AT&T and T-Mobile dueled over subscribers by offering to pay them to get out of their current contracts early, the folks (frolks?) at Sprint are finally (frinally?) getting into the game with a temporary deal that will reimburse up to $350 in early termination fees for people who dump their current plans and switch to one of Sprint’s Framily shared-data plans. [More]
AT&T Letting Customers Out Of Contract If They Switch To AT&T Next
By 1.21.14
AT&T continues its push to move customers away from standard two-year plans (that include subsidized device prices) and toward plans where the customer owns pays full price for her phone, but gets a discount on her monthly data rate. Yesterday, the company announced that it would allow certain contract subscribers to ditch their contracts without penalty — if they switch over to the AT&T Next plan. [More]
T-Mobile Announces “Contract Freedom,” Will Pay Early Termination Fees On Up To 5 Lines
By 1.8.14
T-Mobile’s campaign to brand themselves as America’s “un-carrier” started last year at CES in Las Vegas, so it makes sense that the company introduced “Uncarrier 4.0” this afternoon at the same event. [More]
T-Mobile Gives Us 1 Bar Of Service At Home, Still Charges $600 ETF To Leave
By 1.8.13
JD and his family moved to a different town in the same state, but T-Mobile didn’t have great reception in their new home. They had only one bar of service, but T-Mobile customer service staff assured the family that the service would get better. It didn’t. When his wife’s phone broke, they upgraded her phone and his son’s phone after assurances from the salesperson that having new, advanced smartphones would improve their reception. They did not. What the family would really like now, a year later, is to quit their T-Mobile contract and get on with their lives. That’s not an option without an early termination fee. [More]
Moving My DirecTV Service Costs $230, Canceling It Costs $500
By 11.27.12
Some satellite TV customers decide to end their relationship with their company of choice when they move, but that’s not what Brad and his wife want to do. They’re moving to be closer to family during a medical crisis. The problem is that they’re still under contract: they just signed up this August. They also like their service and want to keep it. The problem is that DirecTV offers them two options: a $200 fee to move the service, or a [More]
Verizon Says I Can Port Numbers Without Paying ETF, Charges Me $910 ETF Anyway
By 11.8.12
When Consumerist reader Jill’s husband left his job at Verizon earlier this year, he’d been told that he could port all five of the wireless lines on their family’s account to another carrier without paying any early termination fees, and so they did. But when that final bill came from VZW, they suddenly owed nearly $1,000 in ETFs. [More]
Cancel Cingular By “Moving” To Caliente
By 9.8.06
A reader reports he was able to get out of his Cingular contract by telling them he was moving to a remote area of NV.
