Terminate Your Sprint Contract With Out Early Termination Fee

You should have received a postcard in your mail from Sprint stating:

Notice OF Discontinuance Of FPCR, Federal E999 and Federal WLNP Surcharges: Introduction Of Administrative And Regulatory Charges Effective January 1, 2008. Beginning January 1, 2008 Sprint will no longer assess the following : 1) Federal Programs Cost Recovery ($ 1.55); 2) Federal E911 ($.40) and 3) Federal Wirelsss Local Number Portability ($.15).

Beginning January 1, 2008 Sprint will asses 2 new monthly charges per line. An administrative charge of $.75 and a regulatory charge of $.20 to help defray the cost on us that other telecommunications carriers charge Sprint.

Notice Of Charges To Sprint Terms And Conditions Of Service- January 1, 2008

The terms and conditions for Sprint and Nextel have been updated, but not limited to, the following paragraphs:

These new terms and conditions are effective January 1, 2008 and are available at sprint.com or upon request.
Please carefully review these terms as they apply to any future use of service.

I did some digging and found the following on Sprint’s web site regarding the new Terms and Conditions of Service:

The Administrative Charge will be $0.75 per line per month and is assessed by Sprint to help defray various costs imposed on Sprint by other telecommunications carriers, including, but not limited to, charges imposed by local telephone companies for delivery of calls from our customers to their landline customers and for certain network facilities and services we need to purchase from them. The Administrative Charge is not a tax and is not an amount we are required to collect from you by law. The Administrative Charge, and the components used to calculate this charge, is subject to change from time to time.

So here is your chance to cancel Sprint Account with the (ETF) early termination fee since Sprint is ‘adding’ Administrative Charge that is not government mandated, they are essentially changing the Terms and Conditions of Service which you agreed to originally. This is essentially a core charge because you have no option to opt out unless you cancel the service. Keep in mind this is not an existing charge that “Sprint can change from time to time” as in your original agreement. You need to call Sprint’s retention department and prove this change has an adverse affect on you.

I attempted to cancel one of my friend’s account. The representative told me yes, I can cancel my account with out the early termination fee starting 01-01-08. He advised me to call back Sprint on 01-01-08 and request for cancellation with out the early termination fee. He warned me using or paying for service after 01-01-08 is under the new contract, period. So you have 30 days grace period. Tell the representatives at Sprint that you want to leave Sprint with out early termination fee specifically to avoid the material change in the contract.

I’m quoting Sprint’s contract if you need it for reference:

Except as provided below, if a change we make to the Agreement is material and has a material adverse effect on you, you may terminate each line of Service materially affected without incurring an Early Termination Fee only if you: (a) call us within 30 days after the effective date of the change; and (b) specifically advise us that you wish to cancel Services because of a material change to the Agreement that we have made. If you do not cancel Service within 30 days of the change, an Early Termination Fee will apply if you terminate Services before the end of any applicable Term Commitment.

Good luck