Getting out of your Verizon contract

Posted
by
Steve St. Pierre
on February 7, 2007, at 10:49 AM
in BlackBerry-Help
. Tags: .
Comments: 8 responses
8 Comments

Here’s to you, Verizon customers, for waiting on your service provider as long as you have, just begging for a new device. Well, if you’re not up for waiting anymore despite news of a new device on the way, we may have found a decent solution from the Consumerist to getting out of your Verizon contract. There’s been talk of getting out of cell contracts as text message fees rise, and it looks as though these folks have found a way to get out of their contract in 30 minutes (and get a chance to have a bit of a fit in the process).

VERIZON: “The increase is not materially adverse”

REBUTTAL: ” Wrong, it is. If I’m sending or receiving an average of 100 texts/month (check my history for this because it is a conservative estimate), then your 50% increase is costing me $5 a month or $60 a year. My monthly bill is $55 a year, so if I decide to send Verizon one less payment each month, would they consider that adverse? Of course they would. You would cancel my service and send the amount to debt collectors. I’m confident any court of law will find $60 to be adverse. “

VERIZON: “Still, this is not materially adverse.”

REBUTTAL: “Nowhere in your contract does not give a concrete definition of materially adverse. I’m telling you this is materially adverse, you know it’s materially adverse, and I’m confident a court of law will side with me that it is materially adverse. What is the point of a contract if you can just arbitrarily increase prices by 50% and then tell users they can’t cancel even though it’s spelled out in that very contract? “

VERIZON: “Sorry we still cannot cancel your contract.”

REBUTTAL: “I tried to be reasonable but I have no choice to fight this. You know I’m in the right.

And it doesn’t end there, folks. Tired of waiting on the Pearl or waiting even longer until the 8800? Here’s your opportunity to cut some ties.

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  • Alex

    I tried this on my Cingular phone when they increased on 1/21 their txt msg fees. They wouldnt budge… I ended up filing a FCC complaint, and their Office of the President of Cingular called. They still disagreed with me, but when i asked for them to send me a copy of my contract, they were unable to find it… when i asked how they could hold me to a contract they have no record of, the folded and removed it from my account and allowed me to cancel with no fee.
    Try asking for a copy :)

  • Alex

    I tried this on my Cingular phone when they increased on 1/21 their txt msg fees. They wouldnt budge… I ended up filing a FCC complaint, and their Office of the President of Cingular called. They still disagreed with me, but when i asked for them to send me a copy of my contract, they were unable to find it… when i asked how they could hold me to a contract they have no record of, the folded and removed it from my account and allowed me to cancel with no fee.
    Try asking for a copy :)

  • Chace B.

    I read a similar article a month back about the loophole to get out of contract and was able to get out of my verizon contract using it. They were very forceful and tried to use the same argument of “this is not materially adverse”. I then asked the young lady what constitutes materially adverse by the company definition. she gave me an example of raising the voice plan price. I asked by what amount and she said “$10″. I said “where in the contract does it state what amount constitutes it? I’m holding the contract and that is no where. You are interpreting the contract and I am doing the same.” She went and got her supervisor and I used the same logic on the supervisor. Long story short, I was able to get off.

    Best advice I can give is stay calm, stay logical and try to trap them in their own words. the more questions you ask the more chances for them to slip up and give you a chance to break out.

    It WILL be tough because they probably have received orders from up top by now not to let anyone out. they’d rather face a class-action because they know it’ll take more work on the consumer part than theirs so most consumers will just give up. (remember this knowledge has been out for nearly 2 months and verizon reads the same phone blog/enthusiast sites that we do)

  • Chace B.

    I read a similar article a month back about the loophole to get out of contract and was able to get out of my verizon contract using it. They were very forceful and tried to use the same argument of “this is not materially adverse”. I then asked the young lady what constitutes materially adverse by the company definition. she gave me an example of raising the voice plan price. I asked by what amount and she said “$10″. I said “where in the contract does it state what amount constitutes it? I’m holding the contract and that is no where. You are interpreting the contract and I am doing the same.” She went and got her supervisor and I used the same logic on the supervisor. Long story short, I was able to get off.

    Best advice I can give is stay calm, stay logical and try to trap them in their own words. the more questions you ask the more chances for them to slip up and give you a chance to break out.

    It WILL be tough because they probably have received orders from up top by now not to let anyone out. they’d rather face a class-action because they know it’ll take more work on the consumer part than theirs so most consumers will just give up. (remember this knowledge has been out for nearly 2 months and verizon reads the same phone blog/enthusiast sites that we do)

  • http://www.vazcom.net/ MArco Castaneda

    How do i file an FCC complaint because i tried to get out of my cingular contract and they woudn’t budge. Any info would be really appreciated.

  • http://www.vazcom.net MArco Castaneda

    How do i file an FCC complaint because i tried to get out of my cingular contract and they woudn’t budge. Any info would be really appreciated.

  • fernando

    I have updated my rip off report.
    http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/452/RipOff0452294.htm

    and I’m very happy to announce that i just received a call from verizon telling me that i can get out of my contract with not EFT. She was very apologetic about the mixed information i got from the other reps. She gave me her number and extension and told me whenever i finish porting my number to give her a call and she also noted my account.

    For a moment i questioned myself for wanting to get off verizon but that moment was shortly lived since i remember all the rude and obnoxious reps i talked to before. And because i want an iphone..

    Note to Verizon abide to your contract and don’t ever ever F with me again

  • fernando

    I have updated my rip off report.
    http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/452/RipOff0452294.htm

    and I’m very happy to announce that i just received a call from verizon telling me that i can get out of my contract with not EFT. She was very apologetic about the mixed information i got from the other reps. She gave me her number and extension and told me whenever i finish porting my number to give her a call and she also noted my account.

    For a moment i questioned myself for wanting to get off verizon but that moment was shortly lived since i remember all the rude and obnoxious reps i talked to before. And because i want an iphone..

    Note to Verizon abide to your contract and don’t ever ever F with me again