You already know that
you have to enter into a one or two year contract for
your cellular service. What you may not know is that
when signing up for service through a retailer acting
as the agent for the carrier, you are actually signing
two contracts.
On the first contract,
you are actually signing a contract with the carrier
stating that you agree to be bound by the terms of the
contract and will pay a penalty for canceling service
prior to the contract expiration. The second contract
you sign is stating that you will pay a penalty
directly to the agent for terminating service prior to
the contract expiration. Here is a copy of the fine
print on a contract from an agent of a cellular
carrier. Remember that this is in addition to the
penalty to be paid to the cellular service carrier.
Fine
Print in Contract Agreement
Accordingly, I
agree as follows:
- In
consideration of Cellular Agent’s agreement to
sell me the cellular equipment described above at a
reduced promotional rate, I agree (1) to purchase
the above described cellular equipment unit from
Cellular Agent, thereby entering into this Cellular
Equipment Agreement, (2) to enter into an agreement
with Cellular Provider for cellular mobile
telephone service ("Cellular Service"),
and (3) to retain and make required payments to
Cellular Provider for such Cellular Service for at
least six (6) months.
- Should I
for any reason whatsoever, intentional or
otherwise, (I) covert the cellular service phone
number assigned to this agreement to another
cellular carrier; (II) cancel, disrupt, or
otherwise terminate the Cellular Service before the
expiration of six (6) months from the date of this
agreement; or (III) have cancelled or had service
suspended on any cellular service of Cellular
Provider with the last twelve (12) months, I will
pay directly to Cellular Agent the additional sum
of FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS ($400.00) as liquidated
damages within ten (10) days of such occurrence (or
in the case of (III) within ten (10) days of notice
to Customer by Cellular Agent that Cellular
Provider’s records reflect such cancellation or
suspension). Disruption of Cellular Service
includes, but is not limited to, non-payment of
cellular airtime and related usage billing, loss or
theft of the telephone or relocation by me to
another service area. In addition, I agree to pay
any expenses or costs incurred by Cellular Agent in
enforcing its rights under this agreement
(including any costs of collection and reasonable
attorney’s fees.)
This
agreement shall be secured by accepted and approved
credit card guarantee. If such guarantees are not
available, I accept personal responsibility for the
satisfaction of the terms and conditions of this
agreement.
What this means is that
you need to carefully review both contracts to find out
how they will affect you. Only psychics can supposedly
predict the future. For those of us who cannot predict
the future, it is best to know where we stand in case
something comes up that may have an impact on our
service agreement.
The fee that is being
charged here is a pretty hefty sum considering that the
promotional phones are of the lower end of the product
line for cellular phones. In some cases, you may be
able to avoid signing a contract by going to a digital
carrier for service. Bottom line: Do not sign a
contract until you have read it completely and have had
all of your questions answered in full. If you are told
not to worry about something, ask them why you shouldn’t
worry about it. If it is in the contract, then it is
something you need to understand completely.
