5GB Limit and Other Key Provisions of the Terms & Condit

ebiz · Last edited by ebiz on Sun Nov 02, 2008 11:43 pm; edited 13 times in total

The 5 GB limit is now officially in the Sprint Terms and Conditions. Accordng to the Providing Notice provisions, you have 30 days to cancel without paying an early termination fee (ETF) from the effective date of change specifiied in the first notice of the 5 GB limit by Sprint to you from your bill or from any other email, fax, mail, vocemail, text message or telephonic notification. For those of us who were first notified of the 5 Gb limit in our May bills the effective date of change was 30 days after the individual dates of those bills.

It is possible Sprint only puts the notifcation in the bills of those who regularly exceed some number of gigs. That way it just has to cancel the account afterward (and charge the $200 ETF). If that is the case, those of you who have not yet received a notice in your bills will get a warning first - by bill, phone, text message or letter - all of which are acceptable forms of notification according to the T&Cs.

The 5 GB limit and the early termination provisions from the new Terms and Conditions (T&Cs) are excerpted below. Note the T&Cs do not say Sprint will apply overage charges. That makes it appear that Sprint may wish to selectively apply the policy rather than be absolute about it. Perhaps it wants to see if it gets a satisfactory data usage reduction by knocking out the high end users, before deciding to apply cancellation uniformly or announce overage charges. We'll see. Confused

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Terms and Conditions

Data Usage Limitation (Mobile Broadband Cards, USB Modems, Imbedded Modems and Phone-As-Modem):
The amount of data transmitted over our network is measured in kilobytes (KB), megabytes (MB) or gigabytes (GB). Sprint reserves the right to limit throughput speeds or amount of data transferred; and to deny, terminate, modify, disconnect or suspend service if usage either exceeds (a.) 5GB/month in total or (b.) 300MB/month while off-network roaming. 1024 KB equal 1 MB. 1024 MB equal 1 GB.

General Terms:
If you agree to maintain service for a minimum Term, the Term begins when you accept the Subscriber Agreement (e.g., signature, activate service, use phone, etc.). You may terminate any line of service before its Term ends by calling us, however you will be responsible for an EARLY TERMINATION FEE of up to $200 (“Fee”) for each line/number terminated early...

[several paragraphs down]

Term Commitments & Early Termination Fees
Many of the Services (for example, rate plans and Device discounts) that we offer require you to maintain certain Services with us for a minimum term, usually 1 or 2 years ("Term Commitment"). You will be charged a fee ("Early Termination Fee") for each line of Service that you terminate early (i.e., prior to satisfying the Term Commitment) or for each line of Service that we terminate early for good reason (for example, violating the payment or other terms of the Agreement)...

When You Don't Have To Pay An Early Termination Fee
You aren't responsible for paying an Early Termination Fee when terminating Services: (a) provided on a month-to-month basis; (b) consistent with our published trial period return policy; or (c) in response to a materially adverse change we make to the Agreement as described directly below.

Our Right To Change The Agreement & Your Related Rights
We may change any part of the Agreement at any time, including, but not limited to, rates, charges, how we calculate charges, or your terms of Service. We will provide you notice of material changes, and may provide you notice of non-material changes, in a manner consistent with this Agreement (see "Providing Notice To Each Other Under The Agreement" section). If a change we make to the Agreement is material and has a material adverse effect on Services under your Term Commitment, 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.

Exceptions To Our Agreement To Arbitrate Disputes
Either of us may bring qualifying claims in small claims court. In addition, this arbitration provision does not prevent you from filing your dispute with any federal, state or local government agency that can, if the law allows, seek relief against us on your behalf.

No Class Actions
TO THE EXTENT ALLOWED BY LAW, WE EACH WAIVE ANY RIGHT TO PURSUE DISPUTES ON A CLASSWIDE BASIS; THAT IS, TO EITHER JOIN A CLAIM WITH THE CLAIM OF ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY, OR ASSERT A CLAIM IN A REPRESENTATIVE CAPACITY ON BEHALF OF ANYONE ELSE IN ANY LAWSUIT, ARBITRATION OR OTHER PROCEEDING.

No Trial By Jury
TO THE EXTENT ALLOWED BY LAW, WE EACH WAIVE ANY RIGHT TO TRIAL BY JURY IN ANY LAWSUIT, ARBITRATION OR OTHER PROCEEDING.

Providing Notice To Each Other Under The Agreement
Except as the Agreement specifically provides otherwise, you must provide us notice by calling or writing us as instructed on your invoice. We will provide you notice in your bill, correspondence to your last known billing address, to any fax number or e-mail address you've provided us, by calling you on your home phone or Device, by voice message on your Device or home phone, or by text message on your Device.

Other Important Terms
...The Agreement and the documents it incorporates make up the entire agreement between us and replaces all prior written or spoken agreements - you can't rely on any contradictory documents or statements by sales or service representatives...
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Vista64 & EX720

waynefoutz · EVDO Junkie Joined: 31 Mar 2008 Posts: 219

dima · EVDO User Joined: 20 Mar 2008 Posts: 98

Here you go:

Term Commitments & Early Termination Fees
...You will be charged a fee ("Early Termination Fee") for each line of Service that you terminate early (i.e., prior to satisfying the Term Commitment) or for each line of Service that we terminate early for good reason (for example, violating the payment or other terms of the Agreement).

So yes, Sprint will charge an ETF for lines of service they see fit to terminate which I assume to include data overages thought I didn't read an explicit reference to them.

I think the whole thing sounds turgid. Talk about going over to the Dark Side. Verizon doesn't even do that.

ebiz · Last edited by ebiz on Tue Jun 17, 2008 3:54 am; edited 5 times in total

paulie888 · EVDO User Joined: 14 Jun 2008 Posts: 37

ebiz,

There is a simple solution to this. I spoke to a couple of CS reps that had no idea about the cap. Just mention that you want to cancel, and insist on talking to Retention. They all pretty much know about this issue, and they offered to put me on a month-to-month contract, and I got on it immediately. This way I have the option of terminating anytime I want to without having to worry about the ETF.

Paulie

ebiz · Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 1:48 am Post subject:

Great solution, Paulie. Thank you. I would imagine Retention will be deluged.
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Vista64 & EX720

ebiz · Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 11:48 pm Post subject:

Just looked at my expiration date and it is 29Aug08. Guess I can stay below 5 GB for July and August. Then the ETF won't be relevant to me. If I had a few months or more on it though, I'd use Paulie's solution before you reach the end of your 30 day window (which is 30 days after the effective date of the 5 GB change specified on your bill or any other formal announcement Sprint gives you... as per the provisions of the T&Cs excerpted in the original post. Wink

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Vista64 & EX720

AmazinglySmooth · EVDO User Joined: 17 May 2006 Posts: 62

psibrtyger · EVDO Newbie Joined: 02 Aug 2007 Posts: 1

Watch out the people at Sprint! The reps are not going to let you cancel your account easily. I ran into this problem trying to cancel on 6/19.

First I called up and told the person answering I wanted to cancel since the T&C's changed. He said that should be fine and I wanted to be sure Sprint will not charge me the ETF. He informed me that we would have to wait and see on the next bill. (I received my bill on June 7th and had the T&Cs in it) He wanted to me to wait until the next bill in July which would have been out of the 30 day cancel period and see what the fees were. I insisted that I wanted to canel today and did not want to wait for that reason. So he had to get a manager to cancel with out the fees and get it sorted out.

I was then transfered to the Manager above him which would take care of the issue. Anyways I informed her of the change and that I did not agree with the T&C's. Well she went on that these do not affect everyone and wanted me to stay and basically would not allow me to cancel. I said I know my rights and law says that I CAN cancel regardless. But she was adamant and would not allow me to cancel regardless of me asking to do so with in my rights.

If I did not state that I KNEW I was going to be over the cap of 5GB as the last 3-6 months I had been at 10-15GB a month. She would not have allowed me to cancel. Basically when I stated she put me on hold and checked the records. She was back and said YES your account is canceled and I was done with out the ETF's.

So my fear is be careful when canceling as it seems they really want to keep you and then cancel you out side of your legal 30 day window to get ETFs. I know I would have been canceled regardless of her assurance that it would likely not apply to me. And that the 5GB cap would not affect every one. (AKA if you don't know Sprint was ready to take your money) A good thing to be aware of your rights.

Also very deceitful of them to not listen to me and allow me to cancel even though the law would allow me. I felt like she would not cancel if I had not been over the limit. And for people who just plain don't like the changed T&C's and did not have the ability to show that they indeed would be over the limits would have had a Rep denying them the right to cancel.

Just wanted to add my thoughts on this. SAD SAD state at Sprint hemorrhaging customers and they still can't figure out why.

Speed was great and met my needs and worked... until there was a cap!
1st and last horrible experience with Sprint Support.

ebiz · Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 7:31 pm Post subject:

Good report, psibrtyger. In the orginal post I reprinted the exact provisions from the Terms and Conditions (T&Cs) because I expected the Customer Service reps in Cancellations might hassle customers. Often times they try to assess your business acumen and then mount an attack, if they think they can get away with it. Read them the provisions in the original post, if necessary.

You do not need any reason to voluntarily cancel a service agreement. You simply notify Sprint in writing that you wish to cancel it. You do not have to pay an Early Termination Fee (ETF) when you voluntarily cancel, if there has been a materially adverse change to the T&Cs. Nada. None.

On the other hand, the customers' only legal recourse if they feel unfairly billed is arbitration. For that you have to submit your evidence in writing as specified in Part 5 of the T&Cs. You cannot prove what was said in a verbal conversation with Customer Service so that is the WORST way to handle a cancellation. You could end up fighting for months to get an improperly charged ETF back.

Send an email to Sprint Customer Solutions <ecare1@cc.sprintpcs.com> or <ecare2@cc.sprintpcs.com>. Then your request and Sprint's response will be in writing and you will have the proof to settle any dispute. If Sprint calls you to try to change your mind, be firm and tell the rep you want a response by email confirming your emailed request for cancellation.

Below is a sample email that should work. Feel free to cut and paste.
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To: Sprint Customer Solutions <ecare1@cc.sprintpcs.com>
Subject: Cancellation of Mobile Broadband Service for xxx-xxx-xxxx [broadband number]

I was first notified of the new 5 GB cap on data usage in my Sprint bill dated May xx, 2008. It stated the effective date of change for me for the 5 GB cap was in 30 days, which would be June xx, 2008. The change has also been included in the Sprint Terms and Conditions (T&Cs).

The change from unlimited data to a 5 giga-byte limit is "materially adverse" to my anticipated service. Therefore, under the T&Cs provisions of the paragraph entitled "Our Right To Change The Agreement & Your Related Rights" and Phrase (c) of the paragraph entitled "When You Don't Have To Pay An Early Termination Fee," I am authorized to terminate the service agreement within 30 days of the effective date of change without being charged an Early Termination Fee.

I wish to terminate my Mobile Broadband Service for number xxx-xxx-xxxx on July xx, 2008, which is within the 30 day period following the effective date of change stated in my bill. [just pick a date]

Please notify me by email that you will affect the termination on that date and confirm that I will not be charged an Early Termination Fee. I have copied another Sprint customer on this email to witness my request. Having to settle a dispute in arbitration is neither in Sprint's best interest nor mine.

I have a high regard for Sprint's capability and am sorry you felt it necessary to make this change in mobile broadband services.

Respectfully,
Veronica Videolover
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Vista64 & EX720

ebiz · Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 4:13 am Post subject:

I've been trying to get Sprint to tell me when it made the change in the T&Cs that permitted it to charge the ETF even when Sprint chose to terminate a customer. So far it has avoided answering the question by wandering off to a peripheral issue. More to follow.
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Vista64 & EX720

ebiz · Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 2:10 pm Post subject:

This written dialog with Sprint eCare reflects the challenges of dealing with Customer Service. Sprint's most recent response gets lost in illiteracy. It is becoming an exercise in self flagellation. I doubt I will ever get the date I asked for no matter how many times I ask, even though the T&Cs give us 30 days from that elusive date to terminate whenever there is a material change to the T&Cs. Because Sprint does not post the date of T&Cs changes and does not notify us of the changes, as required by the T&Cs, I imaging it would give in whenever someone initiated an arbitration suit on the grounds that they were not notified of a T&Cs change.

My original question to Sprint was what date the T&Cs were changed to permit Sprint to charge an ETF when it chose to terminate a customer account. Guess it will remain unanswered.
_________________________________________
Date: Tue, 24 Jun 2008 08:19:46 -0500 (CDT)
From: Sprint Customer Solutions - eCare2 <ecare2@cc.sprintpcs.com>
To: [ebiz]
Subject: Re: Fwd: Re: Date the Terms and Conditions Were Changed (KMM5xxxxx)

Dear [ebiz],

Thank you for your reply. I apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced while getting the information regarding ETF.

I would like to confirm you that Sprint will never cancel the account without customers wish and if the customer wish to cancel the account before Account Satisfaction date only than the ETF will be applied. Sprint it self never takes any action about the customers account.

I request you to wrote back which question has been forwarded to the Sprint office.

If need further assistance in any matter, please reply to this email and I will be glad to assist you.

Thank you again for contacting Sprint. We appreciate your business.

Sincerely,
Joan K.
Sprint

Original Message Follows:
___________________________________
Date: Tue, 24 Jun 2008 08:57:28 +0000
To: Sprint Customer Solutions - eCare2 <ecare2@cc.sprintpcs.com>
From: [ebiz]
Subject: Fwd: Re: Date the Terms and Conditions Were Changed (KMM5xxxxx)

That is not the question I asked. The T&Cs now state that Sprint can charge customers the $200 ETF even if Sprint decides to terminate the customers account. The ETF used to be charged only when a customer voluntarily terminated his account.

I asked you what date that change was made to the T&Cs.

Here are two appropriate answers to my question.

1. The T&Cs were changed to permit Sprint to charge an ETF even when Sprint terminated the account on [date].

or

2. I cannot find that information and have forwarded your question to the Sprint internal counsel's office.

All I request is that you answer the question I asked and not some peripheral issue.

Thank you,

[ebiz]
_________________________________________
Date: Tue, 24 Jun 2008 03:06:51 -0500 (CDT)
From: Sprint Customer Solutions - eCare2 <ecare2@cc.sprintpcs.com>
To: [ebiz]
Subject: Re: Date the Terms and Conditions Were Changed
(KMM5115xxxxx)

Dear [ebiz],

Thank you for contacting Sprint. I am happy to assist you about the Early Termination Fee.

The option for the waive off of Early Termination Fee was ended on March 31st 2008. Therefore we would not be able to waive off the Early Termination Fee due to net increase in surcharges and fees since.

Thank you again for contacting Sprint. We appreciate your business.

Sincerely,
Arnold S.
Sprint
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Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:46:50 +0000
To: Sprint Customer Solutions <ecare2@cc.sprintpcs.com>
From: [ebiz]
Subject: Date the Terms and Conditions Were Changed

Hi. I was just reading the current Terms and Conditions (T&Cs) at http://nextelonline.nextel.com/en/legal/legal_terms_privacy_popup.shtml?id16=warranty . There has been a change regarding the application of the Early Termination Fee (ETF). Now Sprint can charge an ETF even if it terminates a customer. The ETF used to apply only if the customer voluntarily terminated. That is a very material change.

What was the date of that change to the T&Cs and what was the date of the latest change to the T&Cs?

As you know, the provision of the T&Cs below requires Sprint to notify us when there is a material change to the T&Cs.

[ebiz]
acct# xxx
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Vista64 & EX720

Jim Quan · Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 3:32 pm Post subject: Retentions and month to month

Thanks to Paulie888 and others, I called and asked directly for retentions. Asked to cancel to avoid paying ETF. The rep was very cooperative and quickly agreed to change my account to month to month so that if Sprint cancels me I don't owe the ETF. I was promised an email confirmation but it's been an hour and I don't have it. I did get the rep's name and ID.

Knowing Sprint, I will wait and check online to see if this account change has actually occurred.

... Just checked online and the account expiration date was backdated to the day before my last bill.

BTW, I am in the targeted group - my roaming data is 500-600 megs. Total monthly is only about 1.5 gig.

Jim
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Jim

AmazinglySmooth · EVDO User Joined: 17 May 2006 Posts: 62

I wonder why it was so hard for me to get switched to month-to-month...

Jim Quan · Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 9:18 pm Post subject:

Still no email confirmation of the account change. Guess it isn't coming.

I get the feeling with Sprint you never really know when it's over. Aside from cancelling me how else are they going to stick it to me - again.
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Jim