Dobson Cellular Cancellation Fees!

[cellular_freak]

I wonder why Dobson Cellular (Cellular One) Charges so much for customers to leave their contracts! Every other cellular company i have ever seen charges $200 to cancel. Cellular One is charging me $750 to cancel for the remaining 18 months I have left! Didn't they pass a law or something saying that cellular companies had to make it eisier for people to leaver their contracts. In whatever case, Dobson is a very poor excuse of a good company in the first place because you have so many dropped calls as well as their camera phones do not work well on their network, you can barely hear someone talk. I have yet to meet someone who is truely satisfied with this company.

[Andy]

$750 ETF?
You've got to be joking. I've never heard of a company charging that much...

[ZaphodB]

Looking at Dobson's terms and conditions (https://www.celloneusa.com/ECell/termsAndConditions.do) I see that they charge $20 per line per month remaining on contract. If you have 18 months and two lines, that would come to $720. I agree that that is high, however this only serves to underscore the point, nay the mantra, that we chant here at WirelessAdvisor.com... ALWAYS READ YOUR CONTRACT BEFORE SIGNING IT!

[agentHibby]

cellular_freak are you going to leaving the area and need a new provider?
Or just wanting to go to another provider.

[cellular_freak]

I planned on coming back to Nextel, because I see that they have improved their coverage in the thumb and also, I've been having trouble with the signal with Cellular One, I've even had them put network tags on the towers to check them.

[Andy]

Maybe you can try to have them let you out of your contract w/out paying an ETF if the coverage at your house is a problem.
I guess you should always read your contract, especially with smaller carriers like Dobson.

[agentHibby]

Originally Posted by cellular_freak I planned on coming back to Nextel, because I see that they have improved their coverage in the thumb and also, I've been having trouble with the signal with Cellular One, I've even had them put network tags on the towers to check them.

If you are getting a poor signal then I would fight paying Early Termination. You might want to see if in your contract states if the network goes sower if you can get out.

[MOTOhooligan]

Unfortunatly, they pretty much have you over a barrel. You either have to stay with them until your service agreement is up, pay the huge ETFs, have someone else take over the service* or cancel the service and don't pay the ETFs but this WILL ruin your credit.

Paragraph 1, Section A: If you terminate after your activation date, but before the end of your Service Commitment... you will be in material breach of this agreement. You agree our damages will be difficult or impossible to determine and agree to pay us, as a reasonable estimate of our damages and in addition to all other amounts owing, a Cancellation Fee for each Number. The Cancellation Fee is equal to $20 per month for each month (or any part of a month) remaining on the Service Commitment for each Number after any termination of Service caused by you or due to your breach of the Agreement prior to the Expiration Date.

Paragraph 1, Section C: Service is normally available to your Phone when it is within the operating range of our system and may be available outside of that area in other participating carrier service areas. Service is subject to transmission limitation or interruption caused by weather, terrain, obstructions such as trees or buildings, and other conditions. Service may be limited in some areas where coverage is not available or may be temporarily limited or interrupted due to reasons beyond our control or because of system capacity limitations and system repairs or modifications or to combat potential fraud...

*T-Mobile and CellularONE-Western Wireless call this a "Change of Responsibility." Essentially, you and another person agree to transfer the responsibility of the account to that person's name and credit. I am not sure if Dobson offers this option.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by rancidhooligan Paragraph 1, Section C: Service is normally available to your Phone when it is within the operating range of our system and may be available outside of that area in other participating carrier service areas. Service is subject to transmission limitation or interruption caused by weather, terrain, obstructions such as trees or buildings, and other conditions. Service may be limited in some areas where coverage is not available or may be temporarily limited or interrupted due to reasons beyond our control or because of system capacity limitations and system repairs or modifications or to combat potential fraud...

Unless I'm mistaken, every carrier has something similar to this in their agreement, but people have been lucky, with larger, national carriers, to get out of their contracts w/out paying the ETF fees if their coverage at home is marginal/deteriorating.

[cellular_freak]

Well, I was just told today by Cellular One that I either had to find someone to take over my contract, or I had to pay the $720. She told me that I could call the loyalty department and ask them on ways to split it in half but the only way to do that would be to put a network tag out, and then to take it into a technician for checking. All of this just to switch out of the carrier. I they that desperate for more money that they have to charge THAT much compared to Verizon's, Cingular's, Nextel's, etc. $200?

[MOTOhooligan]

Originally Posted by Andy84094 Unless I'm mistaken, every carrier has something similar to this in their agreement, but people have been lucky, with larger, national carriers, to get out of their contracts w/out paying the ETF fees if their coverage at home is marginal/deteriorating.

Yeah, the bigger, national carriers, I have heard, may let you out of your contract but the smaller, regional or local carriers usually do not.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by cellular_freak Well, I was just told today by Cellular One that I either had to find someone to take over my contract, or I had to pay the $720. She told me that I could call the loyalty department and ask them on ways to split it in half but the only way to do that would be to put a network tag out, and then to take it into a technician for checking. All of this just to switch out of the carrier. I they that desperate for more money that they have to charge THAT much compared to Verizon's, Cingular's, Nextel's, etc. $200?

They seem pretty desperate. Have you filed a trouble ticket for bad coverage yet? If not, do that, have someone come check out the area, maybe if they really find it's weak/dead they will help you get out of your contract, but if not you can always go to planetfeedback and file a complaint there see if it helps. I've heard stories where people were very successful that way.