Want to get out of your wireless contract? The T-Mobile edition
If there’s one thing we get asked most, it’s probably the “I want to get out of my contract because _____ sucks!” email. We decided to put together a nice little guide for all you T-Mobilers wanting to jump ship. Bits and pieces have actually been pulled from some of our commenters, so thanks David and everyone else! There are a couple downsides, though. For one, this particular method does not allow you to port your number over to another provider. You’ll have to do some more work to get that accomplished. Check out the full rundown after the break, and check for other carrier editions coming soon!
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David points out that this method only works for people that do not currently have a messaging plan. If you do, the recent text messaging rate increase won’t work as there is no contractual change that applies to you.
- If you haven’t sent or received a SMS message within the last three months, send a text to your T-Mobile phone. If this isn’t done, T-Mo will most likely deny your request stating that the change doesn’t affect you since you don’t get your text on.
- Log in to your T-Mobile account online at www.t-mobile.com. Hit the billing tab, then current usage, and verify you see the text message you sent yourself. Or any other received text. As long as you see a recent text message, you are good to go.
- Call T-Mobile at 800-937-8997. When prompted by the automate system say scream iPhone as loud as humanly possible “cancel my account.”
- When you are transferred over to a live person, they’ll ask you why you wish to cancel your service. Tell them that you were notified that the text messaging rate will be increasing from $.10 to $.20 on 8/29. If the rep doesn’t know about this yet, they will likely go ask someone and come back to you.
- Most likely, they’ll try and bait you to stay by offering you secret golden deals. Deny all of them!
- If you have not used text messaging in the past 3 months the CR will tell you that the change doesn’t affect you and you’ll need to pay the ETF. Tell them about the text you sent yourself (or any other text message you received in the past 3 months) and have them check your recent activity.
- If the rep tells you that the change doesn’t take effect until 8/29, quote T-Mobile’s Terms of Service. Tell them that according to the Terms of Service, you must cancel within 14 days of receiving the notification. If they really try and push your buttons, banhammer them with the following Terms of Service excerpt: Section 3:
IF WE MODIFY A MATERIAL TERM OF OUR AGREEMENT WITH YOU AND THE MODIFICATION WOULD BE MATERIALLY ADVERSE TO YOU, WE WILL NOTIFY YOU OF THE INCREASE OR MODIFICATION AND YOU CAN CANCEL THAT SERVICE WITHOUT PAYING A CANCELLATION FEE (WHICH IS YOUR ONLY REMEDY) BY FOLLOWING THE CANCELLATION INSTRUCTIONS IN THE NOTICE. IF YOU DO NOT CANCEL YOUR SERVICE BY FOLLOWING THOSE INSTRUCTIONS, OR YOU OTHERWISE ACCEPT THE CHANGE, THEN YOU AGREE TO THE INCREASE OR MODIFICATION, EVEN IF YOU PAID FOR SERVICE IN ADVANCE. IF THE NOTICE DOES NOT SAY HOW LONG YOU HAVE TO CANCEL, THEN IT IS WITHIN 14 DAYS AFTER THE DATE OF THE NOTICE, UNLESS A LONGER PERIOD IS REQUIRED BY LAW. - If you had to read that whole damn thing to the Krispy Kreme junky on the phone, they’ll briefly put you on hold while they cancel the account.
- Once the account is cancelled, check back on www.t-mobile.com to ensure that you can’t access anything. If you can’t access anything, your account has been successfully cancelled.
- If you still haven’t got anywhere by the end of this long ass post, hang up, and talk to someone else. They’ll most likely help you.
- If all else fails, tell the CR on the phone that you’re going to file a report with the FCC. Fill out this form here http://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm. That should ensure a swift action taken by your wireless carrier.
Let us know how this works for you and what provider you end up switching to!
well there is a new way to get out now. tmobile will start charging $1.50 for paper billing in sept 2009. make sure that you check the notice in your next bill and respond within 14 days
i tried to get out of my contract on 8/15/9 because they are about to charge $1.50 a month for paper billing starting in sept 2009. but my first attempt was denied. the cancellation specialist claims that the billing change will not allow them to waive my early termination fee.
i have an unlimited text plan with tmobile and i really want to get out this contract. what should i do?
Will the $1.50 paper increase work? I’ll give it a try. I really want to get out without eft
They already scrapped the $1.50 charge for paper billing. Anybody find anything else? I need to get out of this contract w/o this etf!!!
i had att for 8 years before getting on a plan with my family on tmobile, they messed up everything. Great service?? They are charging me to replace a phone under warranty, att never did that. The phone selection sucks, not only do they not have iphone, but all their phones are bulky or crappy. I had one person helping me doing what i asked, but then the line disconnected, when I called back, they said that the person was not authorized to do what I was asking and they couldn’t help me. My husband and I want out and go back to att, they may not be as friendly, but they get crap done quickly
Tmobile doesn’t want to tell you about this, but a great way to get out of your contract is to do a “change of responsibility.” Basically, this transfers the remainder of your contract to somebody else. It can be a brand new customer taking over your contract, or a Tmobile customer that wants to add a landline for $9.99. Just call, authorize the change of responsibility, then have the person taking over your contract call and give your number. They don’t have to take your phone number to do this, just your contract!