Canceling our contract?

[Gamer03]

My parents billing cycle ends at the end of the 20th of every month.

The cancellation fee is $240/24, since our contract is for 2 years.

To cancel in December, our Motorola phone would be $70 for canceling it, and our Nokia would be $50 to cancel.

Since our billing cycle ends on the 20th of every month, if we cancelled on December 2nd, for example, would we be paying the fees I have mentioned above, since it is after the 20th of November, or would we be paying for November plus the rest of our contract, since it isn't December 20th yet?

Thanks

Gamer03

[tylerdurden]

I've never heard of prorated early termination fees from cingular. The only company I know of that did that was SunCom telecorp. Are you *sure* your termination fee is prorated?

[Gamer03]

Early termination fee of $240 prorated over the length of the service agreement applies to subscriptions in the following states: GA, SC, NC, AL, KY, TN, LA, NY and parts of IN and NJ. A non-prorated $150 early termination fee applies in all other Cingular areas.

I live in Florida, so it is prorated here, according to Cingular.

I found another interesting tidbit on Cingular's site:

Terms Applicable to Cingular Nation Plans:

Digital phone required. Wireless service is subject to credit approval. If your service is terminated before the end of a Service Commitment, you will be required to pay CINGULAR, in addition to the amounts owed, a termination charge of $150 per wireless phone on the account.

I have a National plan, so does the $150/per account apply to me?

If so, what is the prorated $240/term of contract mean? The guy that sold it to us, said the cancellation would be prorated for $240/24 for us, since we live in Florida, and have a 2 year contract.

I have a quick question that is sort of off the subject:

Cingular also imposes the following charges: a Regulatory Cost Recovery Fee of up to $1.25 to help defray its cost incurred in complying with obligations and charges imposed by State and Federal telecom regulations, a gross receipts surcharge, and State and Federal Universal Service Charges. The Regulatory Cost Recovery Fee is not a tax or a required charge.

The Regulatory Cost Recovery Fee is not a tax or a required charge.

What does this mean?

Does it mean you can get out of your contract if you don't want to pay it, or do you still have to pay it, since Cingular imposes it?

Sorry for the long message.

Thanks

Gamer

[Rebguy2]

Cingular, as all the carriers do, imposes a fee to recover money they have spent complying with new federal regulations, including, but not limited to, number pooling and portability. They are allowed to impose these fees by the federal government, but they have to tell the customer what the fee is for and include a notice that it is not a tax nor is it a required fee. That is why you see that on your bill. I don't know of any carrier that does not charge a recovery fee, although the fee varies by carrier. I believe the fee on my last Sprint bill was $1.10. Yes, you do have to pay it if you want to retain service, and no, you cannot get out of your contract by refusing to pay. The reason they charge this is because of system changes they were forced to make in order to become WLNP compliant. There were changes that had to be made to the network, and handsets also had to be changed to comply. Of course, handsets that were already sold and in the hands of consumers could not be changed (with some exceptions, some handsets can be made compliant with a software upgrade), but the changes had to be incorporated into the new handsets, thus increasing the cost.

[tearsonurcheek]

from what i've seen, anytime you cancel service with any provider, whether cell or landline or internet, they set the cancellation effective the last day of the current billing cycle

Keep the Faith,

Lance