Broadband Early Termination Penalty Report Strikes a Chord Posted by Bob at 04/11/07 01:16 PM

The response has been overwhelming to our item from Monday on the growing trend of early termination penalties in the broadband business.

The good folks over at the Associated Press wrote a story about our findings and as of this morning that article has been published by more than 250 newspapers and news web sites. Comments have been pouring into the blog.

This is the kind of spirited and intelligent exchange we envisioned when we launched this blog several months ago. We offer our humble thanks for your comments and insights.

The growing trend of early termination penalties in the broadband business clearly struck a chord with consumers, the folks we here at Now Hear This strive to serve first, last and always.

We need your help in identifying the issues you want us to cover. Please use our comment feature to give us your ideas or opinions, or drop us an email at willbo@consumer.org.

We look forward to hearing from you.

comments (4)

1 Posted by James Jallos at 04/12/07 01:57 PM

Termination Fees should not allow any one to suffer poor service under threat of a termination fee. If for whatever reason an ISP, Phone, Wireless. or Cable Service is not living up to its advertised brovado such as "we've got you covered all over" and they dont or they are "raising the bar" and they are not then they should not be entitled to any Termination Fee. My experience with Cingular was a nightmare and when the last top dog customer service person told me, in answer to my problem that we had no service in and around our home, that she also had "no service at her home". How comforting. This is one example of the complete arrogance of many customer service people who feel that they own you having signed this one way contract. It isnt satisfying to know you are paying 60.00 a month with no service available in and around your residence and especially while convalescing from a broken leg when in case of emergency the wireless service could be needed. There is no real attempt to find the answer to many consumer problems and after 15 years of dealing with many ISP'S, Land Phone Lines, Wireless and Cable Services that have merged, quit or gone bankrupt I could write a book. One thing I can guarrantee is that all the companies I have dealt with in my 57 years have gotten 100% of their charges billed but in no way have I in both my business and personal endeavors with these tech providers received 100% of the services they have promised and offered.

Contracts are supposed to be the agreement to keep those covenants in that contract but these guys always hold out their ability to often change the terms and often without notice.

2 Posted by Sam Wilson at 04/12/07 06:53 PM

The article did not mention T-Mobile, the company that got me.Like your commenter #1 above, I discovered after a long rigamarole of "Trouble Shooting" they had a hole in their signal pattern in the vicinity of my house and they made no attempt to fix it.Their interactive map which shows signal strength in relation to your address put me in a max signal zone. It is not true.They refused to cancel the contract though they had never fulfilled it.Tried to write Mr. Dunbar.

3 Posted by patrick at 04/12/07 11:54 PM

T-Mobile must top the "crooks" list. They are unable and unwilling to give me a copy of my signed contract with them.

I claim I am on a 1yr commitment and they claim I signed a 2yr commitment. My simple request is: please send me a copy of the original contract so this can be resolved.

Their web-based "customer" service assures me they have no way of calling the T-Mobile store where I upgraded my service (in the East coast in 2006 - I now live in CA) and their phone-based service tells me they cannot call the store either (though they can call me at home). They have also suggested I contact the web-based service directly - which I did naturally.

The store - which i have contacted on several occasions - does not return my calls.

So basically, T-Mobile, a phone company, can't make phone calls to resolve customer issues.

4 Posted by Matt Moore at 04/13/07 09:57 AM

I am facing $600 worth of early termination fees if I move as planned this fall. Basically they say I have to pay out the rest of my contract. The company, Shentel Telecommunications, does not offer DSL service where I am moving. I saved $170 in 1 year by agreeing to 2 years instead of 1. I'm happy to pay the difference and even a reasonable early termination fee. But $600?