I HATE cell phone contracts!

[Claudia1]

I rarely use the word, "hate", especially in all capitals but I'm feed up.

We live in a rural area with poor and/or spotty coverage by all carriers. We had Cingular for over 2 years and just last fall, we added a third phone for our DD on a one year contract. After 3 months, they changed to a GSM network. We thought that would be OK, since we had "gate" phones (phones that worked in multiple modes).

WRONG!!!!!

After the change, we has disconnected calls, missed calls, could not use the phone in 2 emergency situations, etc.... The store where we purchased our phone (and serviced them, too) suddenly could not help us. In fact, they were instructed to not sell in our area any more. They could not provide customer service, either. It also was not just one phone...... it was all three.l

I called to cancel the contract and, even after talking to a supervisor, we have to pay $120 to terminate it early. No recourse. No way to avoid the charge.

They are sympathetic but policy is policy. We signed the contract and since we were able to use the phones occasionally, they were not deemed "unusable". We signed it and, therefore, we have to pay.

OK....... my vent is over.

Please return to your regularly scheduled DISing.

 

[DwarfMaster]

I have the same problem with AT&T! They lost their contract for a bunch of cell towers in our area. We have no signal for roughly a 10 mile radius from my home, but because I can still use my phone in other neighborhoods I'm stuck with it for 2 years. I pulled out the contract and read through it ~ and sure enough they have the right to change the coverage area at any time.

So, I too have a family plan for $60/month that we can rarely use!

 

[jel0511]

You really should keep trying with Cingular. We had a similiar problem with them when they went to the GSM network.
We had just re-upped our contracts about 6 months prior to them upgrading to the GSM network, and we had TDMA phones. Now, they do work on the new network, but not as good as the GSM phones. DH called and complained to MANY people at Cingular about the lack of communication about the upgraded network, how we were sold phones that weren't compatiable with the network, etc. After many calls and supervisors, we were approved to upgrade our phones to the new GSM phones. We did also look into trying to get out of the contract, but that wasn't going to happen, and at $175 per line EXPENSIVE!!! You might want to try for the upgrade phone angle. Those phones will work with the new network, and they can do it over the phone, they offered to do that for us, but we refused so we could look at the phones at our local Cingular store.

 

[Pembo]

Dislike Cingular!!!! And cell phone contracts in general. $120 is cheap, Verizon is $175.

 

[Blondie]

That's why I have a Tracfone. I only buy the minutes I think I'll need, unused minutes roll over. No contracts, no phone calls from sales reps, no worries.

*we only use our Tracfone in case the car breaks down, if we need to check in at home, those types of situations, no casual conversations. The phone stays in the car. We use our landline for everything else.

 

[Princess_Aurora]

We once signed up for a Verizon family plan. When we signed the contract, it was $40/month for both of our phones and we shared 500 minutes. One year into the contract, they upped our charge to $40 PER PHONE. This was no where in our original contract that they would up the charge because the $40 was just a "promotional" offer, so there was no getting out of it. We had to pay $200 per phone to get out of the contract. We just ended up canceling one phone (DH's) and downgrading the service to the other phone so we would only have to pay $15/month for I think 100 minutes.

And I don't suggest with going with the Go Phones or the Virgin Mobil. You end up paying just as much for those as you do a regular contract phone. It's insane.

 

[DisneyObsessed]

I had a problem with Cingular a couple of years ago. I was on the phone with them for almost an hour. She kept telling me that I had signed a contract, therefore, I would have to pay the early termination fee. I told her I signed a contract for Cingular to supply me with acceptable telephone service and it is not acceptable. She finally waived the fee. You have to get really tough with them.