Cancel Your T-Mobile Contract Without an Early Termination Fee (ETF)!
By Will Park on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 9:17 AM PST In T-Mobile
From time to time, US carriers decide to change the terms of their contracts. The changes usually involve increases in some sort of fee. When carriers do this, customers can sometimes get out of their wireless contracts without having to pay early termination fees (ETFs). T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) has just made one of those contract changes.
According to the Consumerist, T-Mobile USA will be raising overage rates on September 1, 2009. Customers with individual rate plans less than $59.99 and family plans under $89.99 will see their per minute overage rates increase to $0.45. All other plans will increase to $0.40. If you’ve been wanting to get out of your T-Mobile contract without that pesky ETF, now’s your chance!
The contract changes are apparently enough to be considered a “materially adverse change of contract,” which gives the customer grounds for contract termination without incurring an ETF. T-Mobile customer service reps will probably try to tell you that you’ve never had an overage charge or that your call history shows you’re not at risk of overages, so you’re not affected by the contract changes. That doesn’t matter. What matters is that the change might affect you at some point in the future. It’s all very legalese.
Here’s the pertinent section of the contract, in case you want to give T-Mobile customer service a ring:
“Changes to the Agreement or Charges. EXCEPT TO THE EXTENT PROHIBITED BY LAW, IF WE: (A) INCREASE THE CHARGES INCLUDED IN YOUR MONTHLY RECURRING ACCESS RATE PLAN, OR (B) MODIFY A MATERIAL TERM OF OUR AGREEMENT WITH YOU AND THE MODIFICATION WOULD BE MATERIALLY ADVERSE TO YOU, WE WILL NOTIFY YOU OF THE INCREASE OR MODIFICATION AND YOU CAN CANCEL THAT SERVICE WITHOUT PAYING A CANCELLATION FEE (WHICH IS YOUR ONLY REMEDY) BY FOLLOWING THE CANCELLATION INSTRUCTIONS IN THE NOTICE. IF YOU DO NOT CANCEL YOUR SERVICE BY FOLLOWING THOSE INSTRUCTIONS, OR YOU OTHERWISE ACCEPT THE CHANGE, THEN YOU AGREE TO THE INCREASE OR MODIFICATION, EVEN IF YOU PAID FOR SERVICE IN ADVANCE. IF THE NOTICE DOES NOT SAY HOW LONG YOU HAVE TO CANCEL, THEN IT IS WITHIN 14 DAYS AFTER THE DATE OF THE NOTICE, UNLESS A LONGER PERIOD IS REQUIRED BY LAW. EXCEPT TO THE EXTENT PROHIBITED BY LAW, CHARGES FOR PRODUCTS, SERVICES, OPTIONAL SERVICES, OR ANY OTHER CHARGES THAT ARE NOT INCLUDED IN YOUR MONTHLY RECURRING ACCESS RATE PLAN (SUCH AS DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE, ROAMING, DOWNLOADS, AND THIRD-PARTY CONTENT) ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE AT ANY TIME WITHOUT NOTICE, AND IF YOU CONTINUE TO USE THOSE SERVICES, OR YOU OTHERWISE AGREE TO THE CHANGES, THEN YOU AGREE TO THE NEW CHARGES. VISIT OUR WEB SITE, RETAIL LOCATIONS, OR CALL CUSTOMER CARE FOR CURRENT CHARGES.”
Good luck!
[Via: Consumerist]
i tried this, and was told it didnt affect me since i havent gone over, and i read them the terms of service and showed that it was my legal right. They told me i understand where youre coming from but no. They knew what the terms of service state, and what i signed meant i was in the right, but they stil said no. I told them legally i was in the right and they agreed, and i told them if i was to hire a lawyer they would be forced to oblige and they said you can go ahead with that. And i told them i wasnt illogical, a lawyer would cost much more than a cancellation fee but a denial would basically destroy any relationship i had with tmobile and would not use their services again. They basically said please dont let this affect your opinion on the company but no. That was what the supervisor told me.
Tried and failed, this is what I finally got out of the ‘customer service’:
Tony, you would have to have consistently had overage charges in the last 6 month to be considered eligible for canceling without the Early Termination Fee.
They told me the same thing, so I filed a complaint to the FCC. You should do it too.
Same thing happened to me. I was told I was SOL and he would not cancel the contract what so ever. Very frustrating.
I just got suckered in to takeing cell phone to Florida from Puerto Rico and was told by customer service rep. That I won’t be charged for roaming .When I got back to P.R. I was charged over 500.00 USD for roaming and now they say that I never called customer service and that I wil have to pay?
This is the kind of thing I would have thought of Verizon doing but not T-Mobile. Sadly, it is not the same company I signed up with four years ago. I am out of contract so it does not really bother me but the whole attitude at T-Mobile these days is very disturbing.
Same thing happened to me. It seem there is no way to get out of the two year contract.
When is the deadline to take advantage of this?
same thing happened to me.. the manager said he agreed with my case and it was valid but he couldn’t do anything. he told me to contact t-mobile’s legal department:
tmobile wireless legal department
12920 southeast 38th street
bellevue, wa 98006
good luck to everyone.
I successfully canceled my contract yesterday. After reading the comments here I was worried I’d have a tough time getting it done, but it was surprisingly easy! It only took about 7 minutes to make the request to cancel, explain why (i said i’d be traveling a lot for work given a new position), say “no” to their counteroffer (a $50 unlimited plan), and then confirm my contract was canceled.
Kevin, how the hell did you get out. I got the same runaround as everyone else that posted above you. Did you just luck out. I read the same legal to them over and over but they never budged. What gives!!!!
I’ve been wanting to pull the plug on T-Mobile so I’ll give this a try but given the comments here I don’t have much hope. The sad thing is I’m not at all surprised by this. This is what we’ve come to – mega-corps who are more interested in making an extra buck than providing good and honest service to the customer. They’ve got you for two years so who cares if they screwed you over and you’re unhappy? And since all the other mega-corps are the same way, when your contract expires you’ll probably stick around out of laziness. God bless America.
Brian and others, I’m not sure if the time of my call had anything to do with it, but I intentionally called mid-day so that I’d be likely to speak to someone in the US. I wanted to avoid some offshore call center drone. You should go in prepared though. They changed the contract, period the end. That allows you to dissolve the agreement. Keep escalating until you get someone sensible.
I was successful.
spoke to rep online on tmobile.com told me this
Customers must meet all of the following criteria to cancel service without incurring ETFs:
Customer has minute overage on their accounts during the March, April, May, June, July, or August 2009 bill cycles.
Customer activated or renewed postpaid annual contracts between December 1, 2004 and June 28, 2008, are still under contracts, and have not upgraded or renewed their contracts since June 28, 2008.
So my dad just tried this and it worked. They claimed they sent notifications and blah blah blah and so he had to pay the ETF but he said they were violating the contract and if he wouldve done it they wouldve charged him… Also they are charging $1.50 for statements so bring that up 2. about how in the world are you supposed to view ur statements if u werent to have a computer .when they talk about notifications tell them that yeah your being notified and u have to pay its not an option they are just letting you know and you cant do anything about it . They are violating the contract. I had a sidekick data plan and i got it because my dad has sprint so i just went to tmobile cause of the sidekick, so it affected me bigg time because i used to be charged .20 for minutes which was mostly for emergencies and now i was being charged .45… Its your rights people .. Dont let em hang up on u just keep arguing about the contract and they are not following up with what the terms and conditions they made you sign.. for more info email me at a.barrera.92@hotmail.com… i could tell you what rep we talked to so it might make it easier i guess … GOOD LUCK everyone dont give up..
I called the customer care and they agree to everything but they say I can talk to their legal because of the two following items:
1) I should have a overage in my old bills.
2) I should have been on t-mobile for more than a year.
Please advise!
-Rohit Prabhakar
Any good luck with anyone? Please share…
How long did you have your contract?
Apparently this only applies to people who had service prior to June 2008
I got out of mine, and I have not had any overages in the last year or so. They tried to tell me that I couldnt but I went over it with them a few times and they finally caved. Good Luck all
Yes. Thanks for the info it took about ten mins but it was a success. CC transferred me to a cancel department and it was successful. Just turn down there offers they’ll throw at you.
Just got out i was on the phone with them almost 45 mins before they gave in and let me out of the contract.
I just canceled and I was told that I did not meet their “criteria” because I wasn’t under contract before June 2008. I asked to speak to a supervisor who did some “checking” and then I was told that I did meet their “criteria”.
Good luck.
Well, tried this pretty forcefully with no luck.
I’ve been with T-Mobile long enough to qualify, but unless you can show overages I think the chances are low it will work out. Am not really sure what you can do if they keep saying “no” — I think I argued the legal points as well nearly as can be done.
The key may be to approach the situation respectfully but confidently. You’re ultimately dealing with another person, and being congenial is probably going to go far with customer service reps.
I don’t think I was disrespectful–but they were just really matter of fact about the fact that if you don’t have any overages on your bill that this issue will not affect you and therefore you’re not getting released from your contract.
I may call back again to give them the BBB# of my complaint that has just been filed online as a result of my dissatisfaction though to see if I have any luck in getting them to reconsider.
This is just ridiculous though, I’m out of my contract in about 7 months anyway.
Just tried this and it totally worked (I did have significant overages in July). I was on the phone for less than 5 minutes before it was done. The guy barely even tried to convince me to stay. He just said, “you realize this is what other companies charge for overages, right?” and I said, yes, but their plans are set up differently.
Boom. Done. Good bye T-Mobile.
I’m trying this tomorrow. Got some good tips here, thanks everybody!
If it doesn’t work, I’m going to call Bas Rutten to deal with them. Check out to see how Bas, the MMA legend, deals with cell contracts at http://www.celldefense.com
It’s so funny!
We have been on the phone with t-mobile for over 2 hours! We’ve talked to several people with no luck! I’ve been a t-mobile customer for over 5 years and my husband got a line 1 1/2 years ago…the kicker is that I called customer service several times over the past 6 months to “double check” that MY line was on a month to month contract with the same response every time…YES! I went to buy another cell phone tonight, came home and called to cancel my service when I was told that I upgraded 1 1/2 years ago so I could not cancel my line! Now I have a new phone, and 2 phone lines with t-mobile still! All I got was an apology that they lied to me and the only way to get a copy of my original contract is to get a lawyer to ask for it! Any help here???? I’m very close to going to to see a lawyer as I would like to cancel both of my lines and it would be $400!! Does it matter that they told me my line was on a month to month when it really wasn’t??
It worked for me
I don’t remember having any overages since last November. I told her it shouldn’t matter whether or not I had because I could at any time. Between job hunts and vacations and a sick father this could seriouly effect me in future months. Of course, she tried to get me to sign a new contract with more minutes — yea, right!! Anyway, we went round and round for about 15 minutes. She put me on hold and came back and said it appears I had an overage in March. Ok, sure, whatever she says!! So, I got out of the contract with ETFs!! I still do not see how having not had overages in the past means a darn thing. That tells nothing of the future and what might adversely effect you in the future. Oh well, all I care about was that it worked for me and I didn’t have to speak to any supervisors or even start cussing 
I called T-Mobile on the the 26th. Elevated to “supervisors” twice. They agreed that the contract was changed, but that the increase in overage cost did not affect me since I have not gone over on my minutes. I tried to make the argument that it has the potential to affect me in the future, and they agreed, but still wouldn’t budge. They offered a better plan, discount one a phone, etc, but I wouldn’t be swayed by their evil ways.
I filed a complaint with the BBB, which some people have reported as successful, and T-mobile has until Oct 10th to reply, which coincidentally is 1 day after my billing month ends.
I was thinking about intentionally going over on my minutes by calling my home phone during peak hours and letting both phones just sit there all day, and then calling them back when I was officially being charged overages. The only problem is that if they still say no, I’ll end up getting hosed for any additional minutes I use during the rest of the month. Maybe I’ll wait until the last week of the billing cycle.
I’ll follow up in a few days.
Good luck!
Try it, I “argued politely” for nearly an hour and was directed to on-line chat. I explained the situation and was instantly resolved. No more contract.
I had the same issues, they said since I never had overage charges I didn’t qualify for termination without fee. HOWEVER…I pointed out that the contract I signed was good for another year and the terms covered future usage, as such, they had no way of knowing if I would or wouldn’t go over my minutes and be charged the higher rate.
I then filed a complaint online with the Better Business Bureau and with the FCC. This took less than 10 minutes.
Within 3 days, I got a phone call from T-Mobile stating they are waiving the early termination fees.
If you’d like to use my name as a reference to the T-Mobile reps to show they’ve set precedence of waiving fees, please email me at jupyter_flew@yahoo.com and I’ll give you the name my account is under.
Unfortunately the overage argument doesn’t work if you were talked into the unlimited program. Any other ideas?
T-Mobile called me back regarding the BBB complaint. They said they won’t release me due to no past overages. I told them that I will have overages by the end of the current billing cycle, and that I’ll call them back once I do. When I asked if that would qualify me to get out of the contract, the rep didn’t say that it would, but also didn’t say that it wouldn’t. Same answer I’ve been getting all along. She just said to call back once I have overages.
So, I’m crossing my fingers… and filing an FCC complaint in the mean time.
My husband and I also have the “unlimited loyalty plan”. We’ve been extremely dissatisfied with the service we’re provided. We do not even get service at two different locations we work at. Does anyone know how to get out of a contract with unlimited minutes? My contract is up in December and my husbands in April. And they want $200 for each line!!
I just got it taken care of in less than 5 minutes. Here is what I said “I’m taking a look at my original contract, looks like I was set up for a rate of .40 per minute over, and now it looks like it’s .45, why is that?”. After he explained it…”Oh well I was never notified of this”. Then they tell you it was in your billing statement. I reply “According to my original contract if you modify my contract I am able to cancel with no fee”. He said “Oh. Let me check”. 2 minutes later… “yeah you’re right, what day did you want to have the service cancelled, today or some date in the future”. Society 1, T Mobile 0
I havent have any service for more then 24 hours now( in nyc). Tmobile is saying that the sidekick server is down! I also do not get ANY service in the new house that I moved into. I renewed my family plan serice for the 2 year contract in June 2009 before I moved. (BIG mistake). I now hardly use my phone, not because I chose to but because I never have service. If my phone does not work my morning I am calling tmobile and trying to cancel my service, and if that does not work the BBC and FCC will be hearing from me.
I deliberately went over on my minutes as a plan to force overages, thereby effectuating the “materially adverse” clause of the contract.
T-Mobile basically said that any overages had to be before Sept 1st. Then they gave me excuse after excuse why I couldn’t cancel. Lame. Blah Blah Blah.
I still have a pending FCC claim, but for now I’m just going to pay the ETF and stop wasting my time. I’m sure my new iPhone 3GS will make it all better…
In other news… Samsung Katalyst and 16gb iPod Touch 2nd Gen for sale, now that I won’t need them any more…
Good Luck!
guys, follow AndrewK’s script and you’ll be able to get out of T-Mobile without ETF!
i said i was never notified, she checked and i was on a paperless billing, then i told her to cancel it, and she let me! … hello iPhone!
Society 2, Tmobile 0
we have a family unlimited plan with Tmobile would that principle work
WoW I could jump for joy right now. My contract with T-moblie is DONE. I was so tired of paying more & more every month on my bill. I dealt with the text message increase because it was too late to argue “materially adverse” so I let it go.
Not this time, my bill came in the mail tonight and I have $11.70 in minute overages. I found this article and decided I wasn’t paying T-mobile anymore of my money. I called and said “materally adverse”, “materially altered”, anything I could to let them know I was done.
They said if I renewed my contract JUNE 08 OR LATER I couldn’t cancel my contract but I renewed mine May 08. They also said I had to have overages WITHIN THE LAST 6 MONTHS. I had!!! It was easier than I thought.
Thank you so much! You saved me $200
This worked for me! Just got off the phone! WOOOO!!! and I sold my G1 on eBay! Thanks for the loop-hole knowledge!
YESSSS!!! I am so happy! Poor Tmobile. They dont deserve that. They have actually been nothing but the best as far as customer service is concerned for me. But I had to do what I had to do.
For T-mobile sidekick users, there is no service for nearly 8 days, do we have a right to terminate the contract without the fee?
I have Had my T-Mobile SideKick for the past 2yrs. Recently they service went out for 9days and I have not had any of my contacts Notes To Do List Pictures and Calendar Events. AND NOWWWW they are trying to tell us we may Never get them back. This is my Business Phone and I need all these things back immediately. Is there anyway I can cancel my contract w/o the ETF???
HELLLPPP PLEASE!
Ashley<3
It would help if they posted the section from T&C that aren’t almost 2 years old. Current T&C, as of June 2008 is:
5. Our Rights to Make Changes. Your Service is subject to our business policies, practices, and procedures, which we can change without notice. UNLESS EXPRESSLY PROHIBITED BY LAW, WE CAN CHANGE PRICES, CHARGES AND ANY TERMS IN THE AGREEMENT AT ANY TIME. IF WE MATERIALLY MODIFY THESE T&Cs IN A WAY THAT IS MATERIALLY ADVERSE TO YOU, OR IF A CHANGE INCREASES YOUR SET MONTHLY RECURRING CHARGE(S) (the set amount – which does not include overage, features, optional services, taxes and fees – you agreed to pay each month for at least a one-year Term), WE WILL PROVIDE YOU WITH AT LEAST 30 DAYS NOTICE AND YOU MAY TERMINATE YOUR SERVICE WITHOUT AN EARLY TERMINATION FEE (WHICH IS YOUR ONLY REMEDY) BY NOTIFYING US WITHIN 30 DAYS AFTER YOU RECEIVE THE NOTICE. IF YOU FAIL TO TERMINATE WITHIN THOSE 30 DAYS, YOU ACCEPT THE CHANGES.
Forum.sidekickfail.com has recently been created as an open and neutral place for sidekick customers to exchange ideas and vent without the fear of their valuable thoughts, ideas, and opinions being deleted and disrespected as T-Mobile has been doing on their forums.
Unfortunately, I already cancelled my t-mobile account on 9/18 under the false impression I would get a prorated ETF. My contract expired in Nov. 09. So when I received my final bill with the $200 fee, I contacted them and was informed since I had an older contract (created in Nov 07) that I still owed the full fee. I think I screwed up but does anyone know a way to get out of the fee after you have already cancelled?
I was successful. I took about 25 min on the phone. The initial customer service rep. said no because I didn’t sign my contract before June 2008. I had him transfer me to his supervisor. He said no because I didn’t notify them within thirty days and I didn’t meet multiple terms of no cancellation fee. Had him transfer me to his supervisor and received the same line. Asked for another supervisor and finally got what I wanted. Key is telling them you never received the notice and also if you have paperless billing how could you have received the notice in the first place.
Just got out of T-mobile 3 minutes ago with ETF waived. Just be aggressive and firm and tell them that they modified your contract regardless of the time period from September. Just be stern and if they are still haggling you, just start yelling a little bit since they are being recorded.
That’s the ticket,,, patience, persistance…………… spoke with TM 4 times in 30 minutes,,,, They maintained I had not been over on usage charges in prior 6 months which is a requirement to qualify to “opt -out and therefore the .40 increase to .45 wouldn’t affect me. Haggling, and firm the debate continued over 4 seperate phone calls, they advised me I was being recorded and I advisedthem as a Solicitor I was recording them,,,, they blew up,,, threatened to hang up.. Last phone call, after I researched and found 4 months of overcharges totaling $21.00XX ,, they agreed to let me out. Keep the faith and thanks to all for the inspiration to pressssss..on with this matter
I tried and they would not let me leave. I was as nice as can be but still nothing from them. My contract is up in 3 months and will never EVER think about using them.
This may not help because you can’t get out for nothing, BUT if you’re within 180-90 days of the end of your contract you can cancel for $100 & if you have less than 90 days remaining you can cancel for $50..
that’s only true if you started or renewed your contract on/after 6/28/08, fyi.