I need advice on how to get out of my cell plan with Sprint

[BeetDigger]

I signed up about 15 months ago with a two year committment. In the first two months, I upped to a bigger plan with more minutes. When I asked at the time if I could move back down in minutes, at least to the plan I orginally signed up for, she was ambiguous. When I checked with the third party reseller (at Sam's club) they said that I could move back down in minutes if I needed to. I confirmed this with my co-workers husband, who works for Sprint.

Now the other day, my phone, a Samsung flip phone, started to fall apart. I have been generally very careful with it. However, I do open and close it fairly frequently (but no more than most users I assume). That action however caused some plastic to break away and now the phone is coming apart on one side and the other side is about to fall apart too.

I checked at Sam's club. The resellers there don't even know how the Sprint plans work (in spite of selling them). They also said to take it up with Sprint. So, I called Sprint, and they told me to go to a Sprint store to have the phone evaluated. I will do that, but I am prepared to hear them tell me that since I don't have a service plan on the phone, I am out of luck. At that point, I suppose I can buy another phone, but will cross that bridge when I get to it.

Also, when the Sprint rep on the phone told me that I can get a new plan, but I have to sign up for TWO more years. I asked about what happens if I move to an area with no Sprint service. She said that they let you out of the plan. So this sounds promising.

1) Has anybody tried to get a phone replaced during the term of their contract?
2) Has anybody changed their plan in the middle of the contract?
3) Has anybody "moved" with the express purpose of getting out of a contract?

[chriscappel]

Since it is SPRINT I would (and have) gladly pay the $150 cancellation fee and go with another service provider...I have CINGULAR now and havent had problems since....

[ChickSoonerFan]

Cell phone contracts are evil.

I wish I knew how to help you. Good luck.

[Penguin]

I have a pay-as-you-go plan with cingular. Of course, I only use my cell phone about once a week.

[Stanley1]

Good luck finding a place that Sprint doesn't have coverage. They are pretty much "nation-wide".

[BeetDigger]

Since it is SPRINT I would (and have) gladly pay the $150 cancellation fee and go with another service provider...I have CINGULAR now and havent had problems since....


If that is what it costs, I am with you on that. Between having to buy a phone and the cost of a contract that is above what I now need, I am going to be money ahead at $150. I doubt that I will have many nice things to say about Sprint in the future.

As far as "moving", I wonder what that does for my number, if I can get it released to a different carrier.

[yermom]

join the army :)

[Frozen Sooner]

Good luck finding a place that Sprint doesn't have coverage. They are pretty much "nation-wide".
c'mon up.

[Stanley1]

c'mon up.

I don't consider Alaska part of our nation. ;)

[BeetDigger]

I know that my home town in Colorado does not have coverage there.

[JohnnyMack]

One thing you could do (although you wouldn't be able to keep your number, you'd have to get a new one) is to call Sprint and slash your plan to the absolute bare bones minimum and get your bill down to around 15 bucks a month or so. Make them take away every option they offer and just have the tiniest minute plan they'll give you. If my math is right you have about 9 months left and that would run you roughly 135 bucks or so. I don't know what your buy out is on your contract to leave early, if it's around that amount just pay the buy out and move on. If it's significantly more this might be an option.

[SOONER44EVER]

Sprint is the worst cell company there is. Good luck with getting anything accomplished. Going to the Sprint store will only cause you more headaches but you pretty much have to do it to get service cancelled. After 5 people try to convince you how great their service is and how it would benefit you and your entire family to stay with Sprint you will finally be taken to a little room where you will place your cancellation call on a little red phone. You will be put on hold for at least 30 minutes. Take a book with you. I feel for you.

[olevetonahill]

Can you hear me now ?

[SoonerInFla]

I had to go to the cingular store the other day because my phone sucks. I was prepared to be crapped upon since that is the only thing they're good for besides lying to you every inch of the way until you sign up. I actually had at least a little fun. The lady was all excited as she told me their plan covered the entire United States. I told her last time I checked the Mississippi River was part of the US. The old folks afew seats down got a kick out of that.

[GottaHavePride]

Sprint is the worst cell company there is.

Not according to Consumer Reports. They say Cingular is teh suck. I think their ratings went Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, and then Cingular. They didn't count smaller companies like US Cellular (although they did do regional breakdowns and showed US Cellular as the best service in the Chicago area.)

I've never had a problem with Sprint in about a decade. They replace my phones for free when they break, and every 18 months you get a $150 credit toward upgrading to a new phone. I haven't had any reason to change. The only reason I might change would be to switch to a GSM-based network instead of CDMA, because GSM goes international, and that would be nice since I plan to attempt to get a job in Europe.

[OklahomaTrombone]

If you move to an area you have to provide an official bill such as water/electric/gas or a copy of your new drivers license or tag registration

[sanantoniosooner]

didn't read a bit of this thread.

My suggestion is to fake your own death.

If it's been mentioned already, I will spek accordingly.

[walkoffsooner]

I was trying to get out of a contract once and they told me if I had read the contract it stated they didn't have to provide me with service.I almost had a heart attack getting out of there.

[opksooner]

So, I called Sprint, and they told me to go to a Sprint store to have the phone evaluated. I will do that, but I am prepared to hear them tell me that since I don't have a service plan on the phone......
This is called "borrowing trouble", i.e., anticipating the worst. You may get an unexpected surprise when you take them your banged up phone.

..........or maybe not :(

[Beano's Fourth Chin]

I've never had anything but good luck with Sprint and the Sprint stores.

Over the past 2 years, we've had good coverage pretty much anywhere you'd expect to get coverage (except during sporting events where the cells seem to get overloaded). We've had our phones replaced for free at least 3 times, maybe four, over the past couple of years, due to whatever problems we're having with them.

Other than having long lines and waits at their stores, I really can't complain.

I know everyone isn't this lucky. I've seen several folks have conniptions at the Sprint store. One dude even threw a huge fit and his phone while walking away from the counter. It was awesome, he spiked his phone on the tile and didn't even break stride as he left. Schrapnel was everywhere.

[OU-HSV]

I signed up about 15 months ago with a two year committment. In the first two months, I upped to a bigger plan with more minutes. When I asked at the time if I could move back down in minutes, at least to the plan I orginally signed up for, she was ambiguous. When I checked with the third party reseller (at Sam's club) they said that I could move back down in minutes if I needed to. I confirmed this with my co-workers husband, who works for Sprint.

Now the other day, my phone, a Samsung flip phone, started to fall apart. I have been generally very careful with it. However, I do open and close it fairly frequently (but no more than most users I assume). That action however caused some plastic to break away and now the phone is coming apart on one side and the other side is about to fall apart too.

I checked at Sam's club. The resellers there don't even know how the Sprint plans work (in spite of selling them). They also said to take it up with Sprint. So, I called Sprint, and they told me to go to a Sprint store to have the phone evaluated. I will do that, but I am prepared to hear them tell me that since I don't have a service plan on the phone, I am out of luck. At that point, I suppose I can buy another phone, but will cross that bridge when I get to it.

Also, when the Sprint rep on the phone told me that I can get a new plan, but I have to sign up for TWO more years. I asked about what happens if I move to an area with no Sprint service. She said that they let you out of the plan. So this sounds promising.

1) Has anybody tried to get a phone replaced during the term of their contract?
2) Has anybody changed their plan in the middle of the contract?
3) Has anybody "moved" with the express purpose of getting out of a contract?
Wow..well I have a Sprint cell phone as well (it's my company phone)..then my wife has one that we bought. Yep, anytime you change your plan, they'll make you extend another 2 years. My old phone was a samsung flip camera phone...it started acting really f*cked up, so I went to the local radioshack (where my company bought all our phones)..they told me the same thing, "go to a local sprint store". Problem is the local sprint store nearest to me is in Little Rock (an hour+ away from here). I drove all the way there and they told me that they only book appointments in advance..needless to say, I was *****d. I ended up having to come back a few hours later for my "appointment". After they analyzed my phone and realized it sucked (as I told them it did)...they sold me into another phone and made me up 2 more years on my plan (which didn't matter to me cause the company was cool with that). When I moved from the Tulsa area to here I had to get out of my US cellular plan because they don't have it here. They waived my early cancellation fee...surely sprint would do this for you if you're moving. But yes, sprint does suck hard.

[OU-HSV]

...One dude even threw a huge fit and his phone while walking away from the counter. It was awesome, he spiked his phone on the tile and didn't even break stride as he left. Schrapnel was everywhere.
Oh sh*t you saw me?

[Spray]

One thing you could do (although you wouldn't be able to keep your number, you'd have to get a new one) is to call Sprint and slash your plan to the absolute bare bones minimum and get your bill down to around 15 bucks a month or so. Make them take away every option they offer and just have the tiniest minute plan they'll give you. If my math is right you have about 9 months left and that would run you roughly 135 bucks or so. I don't know what your buy out is on your contract to leave early, if it's around that amount just pay the buy out and move on. If it's significantly more this might be an option.

I had Sprint and making a major change to your service like this could restart your 2- year commitment. We just finished our 2 year contract in December and switched to Cingular.

It was the principle of the matter, not the service. I got promoted in July and moved back to 'Bama. We went from using 1100 minutes to almost 2500 minutes per month. Sprint wouldn't up my minutes from 1100 to 2500 without a new 2 year commitment. I told them no thanks and finished out the remaining 5 months on my contract at about $250-300/mth extra. Ridiculous.

Moral: If you change your plan, make sure they don't restart your 2 year commitment.

[Spray]

P.S. - I think my buyout was 2 months + $300. Even more ridiculous.

[BeetDigger]

Thanks for all of the advice folks. I will go to the store to see what I can do. I am not one to try to get out of something if I have signed up for it. I will uphold my end of the bargain. But I think that they should too. And where they fall short is in issuing phones that do not last the duration of a contract and in not being clear and consistent with how their plans work. I am usually pretty good at deplomacy. I have gotten more than my fair share from the airlines just by being nice to the ticket agents and by being nice to the flight attendents.

I also noticed that there seems to be a real problem with Radio Shack here also. Sams Club uses a RS owned company to sell cell phones and plans. Those were the folks that were complete asshats to me. I guess Radio Shack is in it up to the point that the sell the plan, and then they run like hell. This is surprising as I have had nothing but good luck with them on the things that I buy there. After this, I will be less likely to go into one of their stores to buy something, just because they don't appear to want to even try to help the consumer on cell phone issues. I wonder if Best Buy and Circuit City do the same thing?

[soonerbrat]

One thing you could do (although you wouldn't be able to keep your number, you'd have to get a new one) is to call Sprint and slash your plan to the absolute bare bones minimum and get your bill down to around 15 bucks a month or so. Make them take away every option they offer and just have the tiniest minute plan they'll give you. If my math is right you have about 9 months left and that would run you roughly 135 bucks or so. I don't know what your buy out is on your contract to leave early, if it's around that amount just pay the buy out and move on. If it's significantly more this might be an option.


it's $150..and anytime you make changes to your plan, it restarts your contract..2 years

so it's better to just pay the $150 and move on if it is that important to get rid of that service.

[OU-HSV]

.....just because they don't appear to want to even try to help the consumer on cell phone issues. I wonder if Best Buy and Circuit City do the same thing?
And Walmart, etc.

[Okla-homey]

Federal Witness Protection Program or report yourself dead.

[BajaOklahoma]

Got Froz to send 'em a letter that states you have accepted a job up there.

You'll have to get a new number, but ........

[sanantoniosooner]

Federal Witness Protection Program or report yourself dead.

didn't read a bit of this thread.

My suggestion is to fake your own death.

If it's been mentioned already, I will spek accordingly.
spek denied. too late.

[BeetDigger]

Heh. Faking my death is not an option. This is too small of a matter to go to all of that trouble. :D

I have a new plan of attack. I am going to discuss the situation with our cell phone salesperson at work. I know that we have a contract with some providers who give employees a "discount" so I will see what he has to say. Also, I am going to call customer retention at Sprint.

[BeetDigger]

Success!!!!!!!!


We had all of the cell phone vendors here to work during lunch a week ago. I spoke with the fine young man from Sprint who told me to bring my phone in, he would fix it or give me a new one without extending my contract.

Well, yesterday, he attempted to fix both mine and my wifes phones (her phone started to fall apart - stupid flip phones are notorious for breaking at the hinges, no matter how gentle you are with them). They did not have the parts to fix them so he gave me two new phones. And he transfered the numbers via their web system so I did not lose my address book.

Freaking yea me! Good jorb Sprint rep. You are a fine human being!

And to boot, I have applied our corporate discount to my bill, so now I get 25% off the bill. And the rep told me to never, ever ever get rid of the plan that I am on. They do not offer it anymore and it is tons better than anything available today. Free internet!

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

i used to be able to help with these questions, too bad every single one of them has scrapped siebel in favor of amdocs. its amazing how much those companies wasted because their architecture teams were all about the latest IT "buzz".

[Hatfield]

one thing that is odd about Cingular is that at the end of your contract period, if you wish to enter another 2 year contract to reward them for their fine service....it costs 18 dollars to stay with them.

[mdklatt]

Of course, I only use my cell phone about once a week.

They don't let you use the phone at the police station? That sounds like a violation of your Miranda rights or something.

[Harry Beanbag]

We were with AT&T for about three years then switched over to Cingular after the merger about a year and half ago. I haven't had any huge problems with them, but there is one thing that bugs the **** out of me. Since I bought our plan from Cingular online, none of the local stores will help if we need anything. We have to take care of everything online or over the phone now which is kind of a pain when we pass 3 stores every day going to work and back.

[Mjcpr]

We were with AT&T for about three years then switched over to Cingular after the merger about a year and half ago. I haven't had any huge problems with them, but there is one thing that bugs the **** out of me. Since I bought our plan from Cingular online, none of the local stores will help if we need anything. We have to take care of everything online or over the phone now which is kind of a pain when we pass 3 stores every day going to work and back.

I have yet to actually switch. I'm with Cingular but I still have my AT&T plan that has had minutes grandfathered into it. It's a $29.99 plan with like 800 (I think...it might be a little less than that) anytime mins, unlimited mobile to mobile, unlimited nights (7pm) and weekends, long distance, no roaming, etc. We don't use it that much except for long distance calls, so I would switch but I don't want a plan that's more than $29.99.....we just don't use it that much.