Need advice on early termination

I recently moved to a new residence and cannot get a decent signal there.
The low signal was verified by the customer service rep at Cingular.
However, she told me that my only options were to go to a lower-priced
plan, to find someone else who would take over my contract, or to pay a
$150.00 early termination fee. Do I have any recourse here? I don't see why
I should have to pay for a service I cannot receive through no fault of my
own. Any advice appreciated. Thanks.

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In article <[email protected]>,
"M. L." <[email protected]> wrote:

> I recently moved to a new residence and cannot get a decent signal there.
> The low signal was verified by the customer service rep at Cingular.
> However, she told me that my only options were to go to a lower-priced
> plan, to find someone else who would take over my contract, or to pay a
> $150.00 early termination fee. Do I have any recourse here? I don't see why
> I should have to pay for a service I cannot receive through no fault of my
> own. Any advice appreciated. Thanks.

Without knowing where you live, its hard to say what kinds of recourse,
if any you have. Contact your state's public utilities commission or
consumer affairs office to discuss this situation. You can probably find
the contact information for these agencies on your state's web site.

On Tue, 24 Jan 2006 16:44:31 -0600, "M. L." <[email protected]> wrote:

>I recently moved to a new residence and cannot get a decent signal there.
>The low signal was verified by the customer service rep at Cingular.
>However, she told me that my only options were to go to a lower-priced
>plan, to find someone else who would take over my contract, or to pay a
>$150.00 early termination fee. Do I have any recourse here? I don't see why
>I should have to pay for a service I cannot receive through no fault of my
>own. Any advice appreciated. Thanks.

You chose to move through no fault of Cingular. The phone continues
to work under the circumstances which made it a good choice
originally. Why should you be rewarded at Cingular's expense because
you changed your address?

How does this affect your credit report?


Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>,
> "M. L." <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > I recently moved to a new residence and cannot get a decent signal there.
> > The low signal was verified by the customer service rep at Cingular.
> > However, she told me that my only options were to go to a lower-priced
> > plan, to find someone else who would take over my contract, or to pay a
> > $150.00 early termination fee. Do I have any recourse here?
>
> Sure. Just cancel the contract and don't pay them anything else.
>
> It's not that difficult.

On Tue, 24 Jan 2006 20:54:49 -0500, "Elmo P. Shagnasty"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>In article <[email protected]>,
> "M. L." <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> I recently moved to a new residence and cannot get a decent signal there.
>> The low signal was verified by the customer service rep at Cingular.
>> However, she told me that my only options were to go to a lower-priced
>> plan, to find someone else who would take over my contract, or to pay a
>> $150.00 early termination fee. Do I have any recourse here?
>
>Sure. Just cancel the contract and don't pay them anything else.
>
>It's not that difficult.


I can't think of an easier way to destroy your credit rating...

On Tue, 24 Jan 2006 16:44:31 -0600, "M. L." <[email protected]> wrote:
>I recently moved to a new residence and cannot get a decent signal there.
>The low signal was verified by the customer service rep at Cingular.
>However, she told me that my only options were to go to a lower-priced
>plan, to find someone else who would take over my contract, or to pay a
>$150.00 early termination fee. Do I have any recourse here? I don't see why
>I should have to pay for a service I cannot receive through no fault of my
>own. Any advice appreciated.

When you were looking for a new home why didn't you check your Cell
reception before moving? This was something we did when we bought our
last home since we knew that we would use our Cellular phones and not
have a landline.

Bob Ward wrote:
> I can't think of an easier way to destroy your credit rating...

Ex wife comes to mind (so I heard...as have never had a wife).

"M. L." <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I recently moved to a new residence and cannot get a decent signal there.
> The low signal was verified by the customer service rep at Cingular.
> However, she told me that my only options were to go to a lower-priced
> plan, to find someone else who would take over my contract, or to pay a
> $150.00 early termination fee. Do I have any recourse here? I don't see
why
> I should have to pay for a service I cannot receive through no fault of my
> own. Any advice appreciated. Thanks.

Any cell phone company will advise you that they do not promise 100% signal
in 100% of places. You had a signal when you signed up.

>>I recently moved to a new residence and cannot get a decent signal there.
>>The low signal was verified by the customer service rep at Cingular.
>>However, she told me that my only options were to go to a lower-priced
>>plan, to find someone else who would take over my contract, or to pay a
>>$150.00 early termination fee. Do I have any recourse here? I don't see why
>>I should have to pay for a service I cannot receive through no fault of my
>>own. Any advice appreciated.
>
> When you were looking for a new home why didn't you check your Cell
> reception before moving? This was something we did when we bought our
> last home since we knew that we would use our Cellular phones and not
> have a landline.

Thanks to all who responded in a civil manner. To those who assumed
otherwise, the Cingular coverage map includes the section of Chicago, IL to
which I moved. In fact, the map includes ALL of Chicago. When looking for
apartments in a large city it is sometimes impractical to make cellphone
reception the main criteria, especially when it is taken as a given.

M. L. wrote:
> I recently moved to a new residence and cannot get a decent signal there.
> The low signal was verified by the customer service rep at Cingular.
> However, she told me that my only options were to go to a lower-priced
> plan, to find someone else who would take over my contract, or to pay a
> $150.00 early termination fee. Do I have any recourse here? I don't see why
> I should have to pay for a service I cannot receive through no fault of my
> own. Any advice appreciated. Thanks.

There is a video that details the solution for you. The original
location of it is gone, so I hope that the creator doesn't mind me
storing it.

See "http://nordicgroup.us/cingular/cingular.wmv"

It will take several minutes to download the video.

A big city is the worst place to take that kind of thing as a
"given". Like off-the-air TV reception (remember when everybody
in Chicago used an antenna?) there's no guarantee that your
signal won't be blocked by a building somewhere.

Nobody suggested cellphone reception should be the main criterion.
You're talking about a $ 150 maximum expense here as a penalty.
How does that compare to one month's rent? It hardly seems like
that big a deal.

And by the way, I'll bet you got a nice phone for free or very
cheap. It takes the carriers two years to recoup the costs of
those phones. If you cut your contract early, you may be getting
off cheaper at $ 150 than paying the actual cost of the phone
back.

M. L. wrote:

> Thanks to all who responded in a civil manner. To those who assumed
> otherwise, the Cingular coverage map includes the section of Chicago, IL to
> which I moved. In fact, the map includes ALL of Chicago. When looking for
> apartments in a large city it is sometimes impractical to make cellphone
> reception the main criteria, especially when it is taken as a given.

M. L. wrote:
> I recently moved to a new residence and cannot get a decent signal there.
> The low signal was verified by the customer service rep at Cingular.
> However, she told me that my only options were to go to a lower-priced
> plan, to find someone else who would take over my contract, or to pay a
> $150.00 early termination fee. Do I have any recourse here? I don't see why
> I should have to pay for a service I cannot receive through no fault of my
> own. Any advice appreciated. Thanks.

Wow, Cingular forced you to move?!

Seriously, you really have no recourse. Eat the early termination fee
and move on.

M. L. wrote:

> Thanks to all who responded in a civil manner. To those who assumed
> otherwise, the Cingular coverage map includes the section of Chicago, IL to
> which I moved. In fact, the map includes ALL of Chicago. When looking for
> apartments in a large city it is sometimes impractical to make cellphone
> reception the main criteria, especially when it is taken as a given.

T-Mobile, for all its faults, lets you check coverage at a specific
address. It's not foolproof, especially with apartment buildings, but
it's much better than you'll get from the other carriers.

In most parts of the country, including Chicago, Verizon is the best
choice for the best coverage--and the most expensive.

On Wed, 25 Jan 2006 09:27:57 -0600, "M. L." <[email protected]> wrote:

>Thanks to all who responded in a civil manner. To those who assumed
>otherwise, the Cingular coverage map includes the section of Chicago, IL to
>which I moved. In fact, the map includes ALL of Chicago. When looking for
>apartments in a large city it is sometimes impractical to make cellphone
>reception the main criteria, especially when it is taken as a given.

You obviously did not read the text on the coverage map, which includes the
following:
"Map depicts an approximation of outdoor coverage"
"Actual coverage may differ substantially from map graphics, and coverage
may be affected by such things as terrain, weather, foliage, buildings..."

Anyone who has actually used cell phones knows there are dead spots in a
coverage area and if a cell signal is a significant requirement then it is
a simple matter to turn on the cell phone. To not accept responsibility to
test the coverage is silly.

On Wed, 25 Jan 2006 08:54:05 -0800, SMS <[email protected]>
wrote:

>M. L. wrote:
>
>> Thanks to all who responded in a civil manner. To those who assumed
>> otherwise, the Cingular coverage map includes the section of Chicago, IL to
>> which I moved. In fact, the map includes ALL of Chicago. When looking for
>> apartments in a large city it is sometimes impractical to make cellphone
>> reception the main criteria, especially when it is taken as a given.
>
>T-Mobile, for all its faults, lets you check coverage at a specific
>address. It's not foolproof, especially with apartment buildings, but
>it's much better than you'll get from the other carriers.
>
>In most parts of the country, including Chicago, Verizon is the best
>choice for the best coverage--and the most expensive.

What, exactly, prevented the OP from pulling out his cell phone and
attempting to make a phone call while standing in the living room with
his real estate agent?

If it's a deal breaker now, why wasn't it a dealbreaker then?