Sprint Loses ETF Lawsuit, Owes Former Customers $73 Million
Jul 29, 2008, 3:49 PM by Eric M. Zeman
A California state judge ruled against Sprint and said its early termination fees violate state law. As such, members of the class were awarded a total of $73 million in reparation for the fees. The judge is also looking at bringing similar lawsuits against the other carriers in California. Sprint has two weeks to contest the ruling.
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Comments
Sprint's Lawsuit Long overdue
An over zealous salesperson renewed my account on or about the same day I switched carriers. Sprint is still trying to collect 600.00 in early termination fees. I won't pay. I'd love to be part of a class action suit.
We have explained time and time again what their salesperson did. My wife and I have been on the phone with corporate and they say that it would be taken care of. "3 or 4 times". One supervisor said she was going to hang up on us. We said, "We're the customer, how can you hang up on us".
Well, I keep getting collection calls. I have had it. They need to learn how to run a business. "Just my opinion".
We have explained time and time again what their salesperson did. My wife and I have been on the phone with corporate and they say that it would be taken care of. "3 or 4 times". One supervisor said she was going to hang up on us. We said, "We're the customer, how can you hang up on us".
Well, I keep getting collection calls. I have had it. They need to learn how to run a business. "Just my opinion".
Contact corporate and ask for a copy of the signed contract, they are required to keep it on file if its within the last few years. If they can not produce it you might luck out. Unless you signed something but was unaware of what you were signing for...
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I had the same issue with verizon. I had the same phone and rate plan for 3 years. I went to transfer my number to AT&T and got sent a bill for $200 for breaking my contract. I had to pay it, because the hit on my credit would have cost me more.
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Verizons Not Cool Either!
When Sprint offered the $99 everything plan, I decided to call my provider which is Verizon, I wanted to see how much it would cost to get out of my contract with them.
I called Verizon and asked the rep how much it would cost to get out of my contract, he looked at my service and then quoted $179. I told him that was impossible because Verizon was pro-rating the contracts, he became nasty. I asked him to check with his supervisor, of course that just made his day, he put me on hold and came back about five minutes later and said that I was right and that the price would be $85.
Then he informed me that the price to cancel would never go below $65 even if I canceled one day before my contract was up. So I made the decision to cancel...
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I called Verizon and asked the rep how much it would cost to get out of my contract, he looked at my service and then quoted $179. I told him that was impossible because Verizon was pro-rating the contracts, he became nasty. I asked him to check with his supervisor, of course that just made his day, he put me on hold and came back about five minutes later and said that I was right and that the price would be $85.
Then he informed me that the price to cancel would never go below $65 even if I canceled one day before my contract was up. So I made the decision to cancel...
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The cellular industry in general is a rip off. every carrier will try to squeeze to most out of their paying customer. If you want to talk, You have to pay. fortunately I pay less for Sprint.
which phone did you get?
In regards to that, you probably got lied to again. My dad's been with the company since 1988. If you get signed contract, you can probably get some money back but I believe he once told me they will only charge you $5 a month for each month left on y...
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End ETF!
Serves these carriers right. I understand certain administrative costs are undertaken to start new wireless contracts and they should be covered by activation fees. ETF's are a sleezy way to keep customers in bondage to wireless providers. Why don't they just follow the rest of the civilized world? In Asia, you pay more for phones but you have no BS contracts with ETF non-sense. I hope every domestic carrier gets hit with this one. 😡
ATT offers this...if you buy the phone at full price then you don't sign a contract, some other carriers still offer this as well, you just gotta ask.
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I'm all for that. I hate that carriers subsidize phone prices. Just remember that these people signed contracts too. They need to be accountable for what they sign for. But how many of the average cell phone customers do you think actually underst...
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most carriers currently do not make back the money on service till at least 6 months after service have been started, the money they take in on the first 6 months are there to pay for the advertising, product development, network development, etc...
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come on guys If etf's go away it means no more handset subsitys NO more free phones i bet the average price would go up about $175 per phone more on pdas like blackberrys and Iphones probibly like $250 more for pda's most of the companys will do servi...
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INSANITY
That is just crazy right there. I did not even know Sprint could afford to pay that much for something. HAHA 😉
lol yeah they do they just sold all their towers to telecom for 276 million.
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Can't sprint take this to federal court since the guidelines are set in place by the FCC?
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At least you know where some of the money from selling most of their towers will be going to.
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Verizon's lawsuit start with a 1 billion dollar payout but Verizon settle with 21 million. So what did Sprint do wrong to get a 73 Million pay out?
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Not every ETF is from a FREE Phone...
I'm one of the few people on this forum that actually had no complaints about Sprint.
I have an unlimited data card and 7 phone lines (5 are a family plan). Been with them since 1995...
The only real problem that I had was that I changed a single feature on my main phone on the family plan over the phone with customer service. 30 days later I get some postcards saying that all 5 lines are now locked to a two-year contract. I never authorized or was told about this on the phone. Note: These phones had long been paid for...
I'm a pretty savvy phone user and would have not accepted this as these phones were all out of contract.
I called and was put through to retention. She said "Sorry you're out of luck. You had 30 days undo ...
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I have an unlimited data card and 7 phone lines (5 are a family plan). Been with them since 1995...
The only real problem that I had was that I changed a single feature on my main phone on the family plan over the phone with customer service. 30 days later I get some postcards saying that all 5 lines are now locked to a two-year contract. I never authorized or was told about this on the phone. Note: These phones had long been paid for...
I'm a pretty savvy phone user and would have not accepted this as these phones were all out of contract.
I called and was put through to retention. She said "Sorry you're out of luck. You had 30 days undo ...
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More than likely this was prior to november 2007 and the feature u changed was adding more minutes which like other cell phone companies requires a contract, t-mobile does it as well as other companies. so you are right not ALL are from phones but the...
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Had a similar issue with Verizon a while back and said goodbye to them for that.
They MUST be up front and properly notify you that you are automatically being put on a 2 year minimum for the changes.
They MUST be up front and properly notify you that you are automatically being put on a 2 year minimum for the changes.
I agree with the ruling....
As a former victim/customer of sprint. i can truely say this is like karma for them taking money from me. now they have to give it back and folds. 🤣 lets see who else gets shaked down.
You are a retard. When you signed up, didn't you sign a terms of service or a contract that you would pay these fees if you canceled early... If so, They should have every right to charge you.
Who even said YOU were going to get a dime back?
Seriously, you need to not worry about Sprint "T-Mobster", obviously a reference to T-Mobile. which have had kool phones but this is about Sprint, and BEFORE starting a contract with a carrier, there are Terms and Conditions and the Customer Agreement...
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of course ...
... if ETF becomes a FCC regulation, then Sprint would've been protected from this lawsuit.
and people thought VZW was silly to settle for $21 mil. $21 mil is a lot better than $73 mil. VZW came out a big winner in retrospect.
Of course, all wireless carriers will come out as winners once the FCC makes this a regulation. Then no customer will be able to challenge the wireless carriers in regards to ETFs because it is now Federal Law.
and people thought VZW was silly to settle for $21 mil. $21 mil is a lot better than $73 mil. VZW came out a big winner in retrospect.
Of course, all wireless carriers will come out as winners once the FCC makes this a regulation. Then no customer will be able to challenge the wireless carriers in regards to ETFs because it is now Federal Law.
Yup. Federal law dictated by an appointed agency, which spends the other half of its time violating the constitution.
i do not agree with this
i dont think that it is right for sprint to get sued over this, when you sign your contract you agree to the terms in the contract, if you read it or not, you intial right by where it states if you cancel early no matter when, you will receive a $200 ETF.
Just like what was stated earlier some stupid lawyer saw a chance to make some quick money and took it, his part of that $73 million is gonna be at least 3 or 4 of it.
Just like what was stated earlier some stupid lawyer saw a chance to make some quick money and took it, his part of that $73 million is gonna be at least 3 or 4 of it.
what's the point of spending 20-30 min. in the store signing a contract I think we should all hire the lawyers that are handling this case. we should pay their retainer fees and then decide we don't want to use them after we use their services for awh...
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this should work for cars too!
Try this:
You get a loan from the bank to buy a make of car. You don't like the car so You buy a different make of car and not pay the bank back for the first car and you get to keep the first car. This could work!
When was the last time anyone had a phone reposessed?
You get a loan from the bank to buy a make of car. You don't like the car so You buy a different make of car and not pay the bank back for the first car and you get to keep the first car. This could work!
When was the last time anyone had a phone reposessed?
Ridiculous
This is just completely ridiculous. If people didnt mind paying more for the phones and the service so they could be without an ETF, why didnt they? Every carrier out there has it. Its called 'Prepaid' service. Nobody forced them into a contract plan, they just decided to choose one to get the better deal on the phone and plan. The carriers dont make money off the phones, they make it off the service which you sign an agreement to stay with for a certain period of time. Then to turn around and say it isnt fair to be 'stuck' with a carrier is ridiculous.
Majority of the carriers allow 1 year contracts, prorated ETFs, and the ability to change plans and features without extending contracts which have been great improvements. Even if you si...
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Majority of the carriers allow 1 year contracts, prorated ETFs, and the ability to change plans and features without extending contracts which have been great improvements. Even if you si...
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