I was changing wireless companies, and taking my wireless phone number to my new carrier. The new carrier had supplied me a switchover date that was two weeks before the end of my then-current 24-month contract with Cingular.
I called Cingular to tell them I was planning on making the switch and to ask about any early termination penalty - I wanted to make sure that I wouldn't get penalized because of the changeover date. I spoke with Cingular's customer service representative and asked him if I should contact the new carrier to change the date, or if I would be okay.
The customer service representative told me that the contract would terminate as soon as the cell number was switched over to the new carrier. However, the customer service representative also told me that since Cingular doesn't bill for partial months, and that even though I would be ending my service early (no phone number = no service), I would be fulfilling my contractual obligation by paying for all 24 months of the contract, and therefore I would not be hit with the early termination fee. The agent even said he would notate it on the account, that I had called and we had discussed all of this, to ensure that I wouldn't be charged.
Well, you can guess what happened! While there was nothing unusual about my last month's bill, the following month, Cingular sent me a bill for $151.09: $150.00 for the termination fee, and $1.09 for Internet Pay Per Use. (How I managed to use the internet on a phone without service, I have no idea.)
If Cingular had at least been honest and told me I was going to get hit with an early termination, I could have contacted my new carrier to delay switching my number over for a couple of weeks. And Cingular still collected their full 24 months of payments from me! I feel used, abused and set up.
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