Wireless phone service always comes with a whole string of gotchas. As we approach the month of April when I’ll be finally rid of Sprint, they are all of a sudden playing nice once again.
I just got a friendly email from them touting the various upgrades to a smartphone and other plans.
That’s not the tune they were singing a year ago when I asked them to reduce the payment I had to make for trying to get out of my contract.
I had to pay them $300 for the 2 phones. You see like many unsuspecting cellphone users, I didn’t know if I changed something as simple as increase the minutes, pay them more each month, it restarts the clock.
Thankfully now there’s a lot of competition out there.
Restarting the clock is their mantra. That I’m afraid isn’t just the chant of Sprint. Direct TV does that as well. They offer a free DVR and if that DVR dies before your contract expires, they’re so nice, they’ll replace the DVR for free but … you guessed it…. they restart the clock.
Who else do you know restarts the clock in their dealings with you?
Pete, nothing in life is free and consumers should ask more questions. I have found with cell carriers if you are aware of the policy and ask them to not “rest the clock” on minute increase you are generally able to get away with it but it must be done when the change is made. This isn’t the case with minute reductions.
Consider the fact that a consumer is getting hundreds of dollars worth of technology with “free upgrades”, weather its DVRs or cell phones, and the provider is counting on your on-going patronage to cover the cost. If a consumer doesn’t to establish a new contract they can always choose to buy the replacement hardware outright and cancel at the end of their term.
Although there is competition almost all do the same thing because it is a profitable business model.