Termninate a contract = terminate service?

March 22, 2007 9:30 AM

When referring to T-Mobile, is contract termination the same as service termination?

I'd like to use T-Mobile's intention to raise SMS rates as evidence of a material change in service, which will allow me to void my nearly-two-years-to-go contract. However I'm not really interested in terminating my service right now.

The way I look at it, the contract is for providing service at a given rate for a given period of time in exchange for buying my handset at a substantially lower-than-retail price. There are T-Mobile subscribers who remain customers after their contract expires without having to renew said contract. Will T-Mobile allow me to remain a customer if I want to legally terminate my contract?

posted by DandyRandy to Law & Government (9 answers total)

If you look at the small-print on your contract, I'm sure you will find language to the effect that T-Mobile reserves the right to alter the contract and/or service without objection.
Basically the "sucks to be you" clause.
posted by Thorzdad at 10:09 AM on March 22, 2007

I thought T-Mobile normally only changed rates for new customers or plans. (for example, on my 3 year old plan, I'm only paying $2.99 a month for my data package + 300 SMS messages a month)
posted by dcjd at 11:09 AM on March 22, 2007

Already asked and answered on Consumerist.com.
posted by bunnycup at 11:37 AM on March 22, 2007

You'd have to read your contract closely to see if this is allowed. But I'm guessing no matter what the contract says, the customer service representative you speak to on the phone will say No, you can't. I'd imagine you'd have to move your case pretty far up the chain of command before you get a chance of anything other than a No.

(P.S. For those curious, T-Mobile is changing SMS rates as of June 1st- Text messages will go up from 10 to 15 cents each, Picture messages will go down from 25 to 15 cents each. This only applies to individual sends- if you have a plan, the price doesn't change. I just called today to ask them about this, and I got the whole spheel).
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 11:38 AM on March 22, 2007 [1 favorite]

And bunnycup: I don't think that entry answers the question of whether you can cancel your contract without cancelling the service.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 11:39 AM on March 22, 2007 [1 favorite]

Pink, maybe you didn't hit refresh to see the direct answer to the question at 2:07 pm as "not allowed".

And at any rate, since the T-Mobile contract language copied into Consumerist states that the consumer's ONLY remedy is to cancel "service", the question - relying as it does on the imagined distinction between "service" and "contract" for a consumer who cancels their contract rather than rides it out to it's natural termination after 1 or 2 years - seems moot to me (unless I'm missing something, which is possible).

Nice try though, DandyRandy.
posted by bunnycup at 11:50 AM on March 22, 2007

Ah yes, there is in the comments. Tough to trust individual commenters on blogs, but I think in this case, they're right. Might be worth a try, though, DandyRandy, if you have patience x infinity for the phone call. I'd probably lose it around the half-hour mark.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 11:58 AM on March 22, 2007 [1 favorite]

I think Pink has a good instinct - the poster on Consumerist is probably right (even though they didn't say why they formed their answer), but it might be worth a call anyway. You never know who you'll get at T-Mobile and what they'll say - the last CSR I connected with there told me he was a lawyer, then a doctor, then a NOVA scientist, then he promised me a $150 Sidekick III with no contract extension, then hung up on me. Good luck!!!
posted by bunnycup at 12:20 PM on March 22, 2007

As an ex employee, if you terminate your contract, that tends to terminate your service that *day*. You may be able to find a CSR that will have the contract expire on the date you call in, but I don't believe we were ever able to do that.
posted by vrdx at 3:04 PM on March 22, 2007