California judge rules cell phone contract termination fees are...

When you sign up for cell phone service you usually have to sign up for two years of service, with signifivant financial penalties for breaking the contract.

[INDYA1972]

YOU SHOULD LOOK INTO THE EARLY TERMINATION FEES FOR CELL PHONE USERS. I THINK IT IS A RIP-OFF!!! MAKE THIS WORK IN MASS.

[Suddadog]

I got charged $200 deactivation. But I had the phone for 5 days that didn't even work and in my contract it said I had 14 days to return.
So the first csr wanted me to fax my refund slip for the phone. I said I didn't have a fax and I told her to call the store I bought it from to get it from them. She put me on hold for like 5 mins. I hung up and called back to get a different CSR. He credited the account within 2 mins. Sweet!
Then I got another bill for $12.00 like what the heck I never used your pos phone. So they credited that too. I just don't have time to deal with that. Yea never get T-Mobile, there phones & plans suck!
I now have AT&T, love it! Plus I get 22% off from my job.

[scott]

The phone company's don't give options for contracts of less time. It's seem to be a phone company monopoly of sort's. Early termination fee's should be removed from all company's.

[Dean]

If you sign a legally binding contract, do not whine about the fees you AGREED to. If you don't like the $200 early termination fee, do not sign the contract! Period. Stop relying on government to save you from your own mistake.

On the other hand, a legally bindfing contrract includes the signature of the companyt representative. In the case of a cellular telephone contract, I have never had it signed by them. So legally, it is not a true contract. Use this point when they try charging you the fee. Demand they show you the "legally binding, two-party signed contract in which you agree to these charges". They cannot produce it, therefore you have legal ammo against them.

This is how you beat them, by doping your own research and solving your problem on your own, not relying on government to "fix it".

[Dean]

the above should read:
"...by **doing*** your own research..."

[Leo Rochester NY]

When one signs up for a HOME phone. He or She doesn't need to sign a contract!!
In the case of Direct TV. We dropped our local cable and found the Direct TV people a rip-off too! They made us sign a 2 yr. contract also. Guess what! We'll wait out the two years and then they can stuff it!
I'd switch cell phone companies in a heart beat if the contracts were made null and void. I can only say that we're very sorry we left Verizon!

[Chainsaw]

Dean wrote:

If you sign a legally binding contract, do not whine about the fees you AGREED to. If you don't like the $200 early termination fee, do not sign the contract! Period. Stop relying on government to save you from your own mistake.
On the other hand, a legally bindfing contrract includes the signature of the companyt representative. In the case of a cellular telephone contract, I have never had it signed by them. So legally, it is not a true contract. Use this point when they try charging you the fee. Demand they show you the "legally binding, two-party signed contract in which you agree to these charges". They cannot produce it, therefore you have legal ammo against them.
This is how you beat them, by doping your own research and solving your problem on your own, not relying on government to "fix it".

Riiiiight. Don't rely on the government when it's you -- a lone individual with virtually no clout -- against a multi-billion dollar industry that's created a de facto monopoly over wireless communications and which regularly crams contracts of adhesion down people's throats. Idiot.