[Libby Huffman]

I just wanted to share some information I just found. Verizon Wireless is increasing their Monthly Administration Charge from .70 to .85. This change is effective as of May 1st. Because they are changing their fee, you're entitled to cancel your contract with them without an early termination fee. You have 60 days from the effective date to cancel. Here's an excerpt from their typical contract that states their right to make changes and your right to cancel.

Our Rights to Make Changes

Your service is subject to our business policies, practices and procedures, which we can change without notice. UNLESS OTHERWISE PROHIBITED BY LAW, WE CAN ALSO CHANGE PRICES AND ANY OTHER CONDITIONS IN THIS AGREEMENT AT ANY TIME BY SENDING YOU WRITTEN NOTICE PRIOR TO THE BILLING PERIOD IN WHICH THE CHANGES WOULD GO INTO EFFECT. IF YOU CHOOSE TO USE YOUR SERVICE AFTER THAT POINT, YOU’RE ACCEPTING THE CHANGES. IF THE CHANGES HAVE A MATERIAL ADVERSE EFFECT ON YOU, HOWEVER, YOU CAN END THE AFFECTED SERVICE, WITHOUT ANY EARLY TERMINATION FEE, JUST BY CALLING US WITHIN 60 DAYS AFTER WE SEND NOTICE OF THE CHANGE.

If you want to cancel, simply tell them they you are entitled to cancel without an early termination charge because of their monthly administration charge increase. They will try to tell you that they are crediting their customers with the amount of the increase. If this acceptable for you, then fine, otherwise, stay firm and tell them you want to cancel without a fee. You will get transferred to several different people and it will take a while, but you will get it done.

[MrsHovey]

Thanks for the very useful information! Does anyone know if other carriers are changing their fees?

[KatieGatto]

Libby- a great post. Dealing with Verizon can be a real pain. They have a whole division devoted to them at the Dept. of Consumer Affairs (public utilities board) in NJ,and knowing the loopholes in their policies can save a lot of time, stress and trips to the wigmaker when I pull me hair out.

[darrellross]

This is great. I was going to postpone my 3G iPhone purchase until my Verizon contract expired. Looks like Apple & AT&T will get my business after all.

[AnthonyRusso]

Do you know if their recent aquisition of Alltel (my carrier) allows for cancellation of their service?

[Libby Huffman]

I'm sorry Anthony, I don't have any information on that. I would check with Alltel to find out if they've increased their administration charge. If they have, you can likely use the same techinique as listed above. Good luck.

[heke4]

I just attempted to do this as I have been looking for a way out of my contract for a while. However, they offered to waive the fee for the existing time of my contract, I declined that and stated I would still like to cancel but they told me I could not because they offered me a solution that would not be an adverse change to my bill...so I could not cancel without a fee. Any advise on how to argue this?

[mike3381]

Yes, they told us the exact same thing. Make you sure you get to the highest supervisor possible. As soon as we threatened to take them to court b/c it is out right per the contract to cancel they decided to oblige and allowed us to cancel with no charge.

It took a lot of run around and talking to multiple people but you should be able to get it done. Read them the exact line from the contract and let them know you do not want another option. The contract does not say they can choose another option.

[Libby Huffman]

Originally Posted by heke4

I just attempted to do this as I have been looking for a way out of my contract for a while. However, they offered to waive the fee for the existing time of my contract, I declined that and stated I would still like to cancel but they told me I could not because they offered me a solution that would not be an adverse change to my bill...so I could not cancel without a fee. Any advise on how to argue this?

They tried the same thing with me. My argument was that it clearly states in my contract that I have the right to cancel and I want to do just that. I also told them I will take them to court for breaching the contract if they didn't terminate the service without a fee. It took a lot of pushing but they finally cancelled my service. They actually charged me the fee too but I had to call them back and get ugly again and they credited it to me.You've got remain firm. Don't let them push you around. Your contract clearly states that you have a right to cancel and if you have to threaten legal action so be it. Verizon has the worst customer service but the best network, however, I will never go back to them because they do not treat their customers right.

[brian]

After you canceled, were you able to successfully port your number to your new carrier?