I have 3 months left before my contract expires. 2 days ago, I lost my cell phone. I called Verizon to ask if I could cancel my contract as only 3 months are left and I was told while signing up that in the last six months of a 2 year contract, usually early termination fee is forgiven. But the verizon wireless customer services would have none of it. I told them I have been a good customer for almost 4 years and they should let me off. I was told that they dont care how long or how good a customer I have been, early termination fee will be charged if I wanted to cancel, no matter what. I read recently that early termination fee was illegal in CA. If that is case, why is Verizon still charging this fee? Why can they not atleast pro-rate the fee? Is Verizon this ready to turn off its customers for the measly $175? Do I have a way out?
Do you have an old phone in a drawer that you can just reactivate and ride out your contract? That would be the best option since we're just talking 3 months. You should be able to reactivate an older phone as long as it is E911 compatible. Most anything bought in the past 5 or 6 years should work. -Jay
Thanks you for the reply. I asked them about this option asI do have a ATT phone which is about 4 yrs old, but they said it had to be a Verizon phone. How do I know if a phone is E911 compatible?
Yes, you would need to use another Verizon phone. AT&T and Verizon use different network technologies and they are not compatible. I figured since you had them for 4 years that you probably had a phone that you replaced 2 years ago that might have still worked. If you have an old Verizon phone just call Verizon and give them the phone's serial number, and they can tell you if they can activate it. -Jay
Wirelessly posted (Treo 750: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 7.6) UP.Link/6.3.1.17.06.3.1.17.0) I am quite sure that as of recently Verizon prorates the ETF. If I am not mistaken it is $5/m less but I think it starts after the first year. So you should , at a minimum pay $45 less. I would suggest calling them again or going into a corporate store & get it sorted out. Good luck
Wirelessly posted (Treo 750: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 7.6) UP.Link/6.3.1.17.06.3.1.17.0) ssriv, you are welcome. Question for you, have you asked them to just give you an early renewal, you would have been eligible in another month anyway. Why are you looking to cancel your contract instead? I was able to get a renewal in 18 months, btw
I don't anymore, that is why the past tense. I got an early upgrade including the $100 NE2 discount when my 3889i broke (literally, after dropping it) 18 months into my 2 year contract.
I think if you plead your case with Verizon Wireless by escalating your call beyond the call center workers and the floor supervisors, they should be able to help you out. Considering you are at the tail end of your contract and the phone you had was outside of warranty and probably not covered by insurance, you couldn't just get a phone sent to you as a quick / cheap replacement. They should budge with you, since you are technically no longer going to be a customer with 3 months left. My advice is if they don't let you leave early - and someone correct me if I am misleading anyone - is to lower your rate plan with them on the last day of your billing cycle to the lowest possible if you are going to no longer be using your phone. Since Verizon will pro-rate the plan, you will only have a day of pro-rated billing plus the month ahead at a cheaper rate. Then suspend the account preventing any uwanted use on the account until the contract expires. On the day after the contract ends, call up VZW and cancel service.
