Early termination fee waiver

I am a Cingular customer right now, but I am trying to switch over to Verizon.

We got Cingular when we came back to the United States from Germany. We did have tri-band GSM phone so we thought Cingular may not be that bad. Also they gave us 19% discount since we are military. But because we live so close to NSA we don't get any signal. If we get 2 bars out of 8, then within a minute of getting connected, the phone calls get dropped. The base we live has 2 golf courses and we don't get any signal around the courses. No signal at the PX building or at the commissary, or any building on base.

The only carrier that work is Verizon here, and that's why we are trying to switch.

Well that's not the reason I am asking about the waiver for the fee. I am joining the Army and will be leaving for the training end of September. I am not allowed to have a phone during basic training. Even if the training is scheduled for 9 weeks, that doesn't mean I will be done in 9 weeks.

I called and my husband called the Cingular customer service several times. And they all told me to get the order faxed to them. Well what they don't know is when you are shipping out for the basic training, you don't get a military order. You get your first order when you are done with basic training and AIT(advanced individual training) or basic training and OCS(Officer candidate school). The reason you don't get orders to go to basic training is you are not in the military till you get shipped to your training location(my case it's in MO) and become a receptee at the reception company. That's when you get issued all the uniforms and military gear to get ready for the basic training. It's absolutely voluntary though you do sign the contract before you get shipped out. Contrary to what most non-military people know, you are not in the military till you go to your reception company at the basic training location.

Anyway, all the customer service agents I have talked to and my husband has talked to told us that the memorandum from the recruiter is enough. So I faxed the memo from the recruiter with US Army header, power of attorney since the account is in my husband's name, and a little memo saying I want to cancel my contract and I believe my early termination fee should be waived.

But when I called back the Cingular customer service, the guy told me that there's no way I could call them and find out if they(special operations group in AR) received my documents. There's NO WAY, that's what he said. Are they kidding me? What type of business are they running? And he said they will contact me within 7-10 business days to let me know if the fee can be waived or not.

So I asked him whether I can get that cancelled today if I decide to pay $175 fee, and he said yes. So what they are saying is, it's damn easy to cancel the contract if I am willing to pay $175 and it will be done right away while it will take that long if I want the fee to be waived.

Also he said that the memo from the recruiter is not the form of military orders that they can accept. Aren't they get trained with SAME manual? Why do some agents say it's good enough while some say it's not? The guy I talked to not only knew little about handling situations like this but also misunderstood me so many times that when I asked him about finding out if that special operations group received my fax, his answer was the memo from the recruiter isn't good enough. Enough said.

Does anyone know what my option would be? I can't wait that long, I have less than a month to take care of this. I'm thinking I should just pay that money thinking I donated that to some alcoholic bum on a street. Thankful for the cash back credit card.

Oh I'm getting Verizon and will suspend that account probably paying 5-6 dollars a month. I would've done the same thing if Cingular has great service.

Is there any number to find out if they received the fax? Is there anyone who had similar experience with this? I know if you get deployment order, you can cancel it. But new recruit is different. I would never ever deal with Cingular, they are like blood sucking vampires.

The only thing that I can suggest is to escalate to the higher powers or write the Office Of the President, here is what I can give you in essence of ur request.... There is no address for the Office of the President that I have only the correspondence address which is just like the OOP........

PO BOX 68056
Anaheim Hills California
92817-6056

Other then that hun you need to escalate higher and higher until you get what you want, if I could help you I would. Cingular is very touchy when it comes to military leave, but if u cry and beg they will help you out, u just have to get the right person, dont shove in there face that you are going to verizon, that only makes them madder.

KUDOS

I don't get it, some people love Cingular, but as far as I know there's no one around here where I live who loves Cingular. I am so willing to give my contract to someone who wants Cingular. I have like a year left, that's better than getting a new contract. You don't need to pay activation fee and all those crap. It's like 18 dollars for the transfer. I would give my phone too, damn for free.

That's what the customer service rep told me to do, find someone who would like to take over my contract. The problem is, none of the family, friends or even co-workers want Cingular. I need to find someone but never thought it's that hard.

It's just so sad.

Maybe I should write. Maybe I should call that number I found here, Cingular HQ number. I don't know. Thanks for the help though.

did i read right? you say you're going to basic trainging where you can't have ANY phone, right? call in and ask for a reduced-rate suspend (RRS). a RRS puts your contract on hold and costs like 10.00/month (or something) and can be done for up to 6 consecutive months. for every month you are on reduced rate suspend, a month is added to your contract period.

your account will have to be ELIGIBLE for reduced rate suspend...the rep will review your account for eligibility. if, while on RRS, you place an out-bound call...the RRS will automatically be canceled and you will begin recieving full monthly recurring charges again...so remember not to make any phone calls AT ALL...make sure no one else can either (remove battery and/or sim if the phone will be out of your possession).

then, AFTER basic training...you get the kind of orders we are looking for. hey, what if you go somewhere where cingular has excellent coverage and verizon has NO coverage?

but right now...you are going to a place where you can't have ANY phone.

just some thoughts.

cheers.

Thanks for the idea. The rep suggested that as well, but I just want to get out of this Cingular stuff. I will be coming back to where I am right now after all the training and that means I'll have to deal with this NO coverage and dropped calls again.

Today I found out that it was cancelled this morning. Good thing that Verizon phone I ordered 2 days ago arrived today. I absolutely love it though.

Anyway, I know I'll have to suspend this line again but at least it's only 5-6 dollars a month.

I just need to find someone who will take over my husband's contract.

Thanks.

I need understanding!!! Okay I've been w/ a family plan w/ cingular only for 4 months ...and then they charged an early termination fee... I dont understand why...we kinda ran our bill up to 900$ i had a lotta misunderstandings of my plan like i thought txt was free as long as it was mobile 2 mobile big mistake i ran my portion of tha bill 100$!! and my sis listened to mobi-Radio on a daily basis...thinkin' it was a "free trial" she ran her portion up to 500$ish and my stepdad and mom their portion was fair... But I dont understand Why they charged termination jus' b/c we didn't pay the bill on time...The very day my step was goin to pay the bill was the same day we got another bill sayin'...that the now charged 2007.07$ There's no way we're goin 2 b able to pay that...in TIME atleast. Please Help. Any solutions?
email me thnx...please.

well if you default on your bill you get like 10 days past the due date to pay b4 late fees and chances of interuption, usualy anothe 10 days after that defore your actually suspended for non paymetn and then after 30 days of non pay suspend you get youaccount cancled for nonpaymetn, that is a breach of contract on YOUR behalf and all termnation fees will apply , you do have 30 days from the day you service was canceled to pay in full and restore service to have the ETF fees waived , 59 total days to retain service but after 30 days the etf fees stay

Early termination fee waiver

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