There are few things that piss me off more than anti-consumer contracts, especially of the cell phone variety. But getting out of that contractual noose has been the Holy Grail of techies for years, with most people being forced to either run out the clock or gulp down a ridiculous fee.
Well, relief is here, at least for Cingular customers. Consumerist‘s got a must-read step-by-step (including a pretty amazing script for when you get those retention folk on the phone) for ditching your Cingular contract. Basically, they keep on upping charges to contract holders, creating legal loopholes for you to slip through. Totally boss.
In short it’s like this:
Step 1: Call customer service
Step 2: Totally confound undertrained overseas rep by citing obscure legal cases and by following a catchy script that includes lines such as: “Losing my ability to be part of a class action lawsuit removes a legal right. Therefore, preventing me from being part of a class is an adverse effect. My bill says *This revision is effective immediately*. I was not provided a 14 day or greater period of time before this modification goes into effect. Therefore, the CTIA policy permits me to terminate service without an ETF due to the implementation of these changes.”
Step 3: Switch to T-Mobile.
Script For Escaping Cingular Contracts Without Fee, Based On New Arbitration Clause [Consumerist]