Posted on 05/23/2010 3:13:59 PM PDT by Flavius
AT&T announced that it is raising its early termination fee (ETF) for smartphones (a.k.a. the iPhone) from $175 to $325 effective June 1. That gives businesses that are current AT&T subscribers, but seriously considering paying the ETF to switch--especially if the speculation is true that Verizon may soon have the iPhone as well--just one week to decide before it gets much more costly.
(Excerpt) Read more at pcworld.com ...
We had coverage issues when with Cingular (now AT&T), switched to Verizon 3 years ago and have been totally satisfied with them.
I fired AT&T about 7 yrs ago,,, never missed’em.
I have an iPhone with a year left on the contract. Can I pay a penalty and cancel the service?
How can AT&T raise the termination fee on existing contracts? It’s not like credit card law applies here. Does it?
i imagine its because they “give you” discount on the new phone
if iphone is 500 bucks of the shelf they give it to you for 299
this is the dif they re trying to collect
Sure, but does it save you money over a year? IF so,,, pay the penalty and fire them.
The can't, Probable all NEW contracts........ suckers.....
coverage not available everywhere???
what the heck does that mean? Their map is no good?
IIRC, that map is old
so what if it is old. putting a disclaimer like that on a map makes no sense.
But Verizon is the biggest rip off company out there. Verizon is the biggest perpetrator of the scam known as cramming.
Cramming is a form of fraud in which small charges are added to a bill by a third party without the subscriber's consent or disclosure. These may be disguised as a tax or some other common fee, and may be several dollars or even just a few cents. he crammer's intent is that the subscriber will overlook and ultimately pay these small charges
Just do a google search on their cramming partners IDL teleservices
So Verizon is great if you love surprises, as in surprise charges on your phone bill but other than that I would stay as far away from the crooks at Verizon as possible.
Verizon is also another company that does a lot of the "All White Males are idiots" type commercials.
if you substitute AT&T in the google search you get the same scam going on with them
“switched to Verizon 3 years ago and have been totally satisfied with them”
Dittos!
Cramming is a scam that effects the whole industry, but the difference is AT&T and others will block/remove these charges while Verizon won’t.
“But Verizon is the biggest rip off company out there. Verizon is the biggest perpetrator of the scam known as cramming. “
I would tend to agree that you could be right.
My home phone was Verizon. I found out that I was paying for some of these things you mention, including third party billed “roadside assistance” (WTF does that have to do with a phone????)
Calls to Verizon asking them to remove the charges and prevent further charges were met with demands that I had to call the third party provider. The third party provider refused to refund charges and even kept hanging up on me.
Called Verizon back and the sonsabitches wouldn’t do anything about it and when I insisted that they remove the charges they hung up on me! 3 times!
So I quit paying the bill, and put internet powered phone service in the house. Best thing I ever did. That was 4 years ago.
Verizon then turned the bills over to a collection agency. I wrote the collection agency a letter telling them that these charges were unauthorized and illegal and they were to never contact me again about it. They never did and I never saw it on a credit report but what a pain in the posterior.
Verizon can KMA!
MEANWHILE, I had Direct TV for one week and cancelled and now I owe them $480. I’m so pissed off.
If the total cost of your monthly bill x 12 is more than the current termination fee, then cancel your contract and pay the fee.
You can always buy an unlocked phone and not be subject to a contract termination fee.
AT&T’s network allows you to be on the internet and phone at same time....Verizon does not.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.