Hey everyone,
It’s official. Sprint has decided that the new year is coming, and with it, new fees, changes to the Terms and Conditions, and a new charge for a majority of their customer base.
Starting January 1 2010, Sprint is raising the Regulatory Charge from $0.20 to $0.40. You can check out the fee at, sprint.com/taxesandfees . It should be posted in the next few days. This fee applies to all lines of service, and not just a single account. So if you have only one phone, the charge is $0.40, two phones the charge is $0.80 and so on so forth. Now let’s be clear, that charge s $0.40 PER PHONE LINE. It does accumulate for a massive total (ie 40 cents + 80 cents)…
For those of you who want to not pay the additional $0.20 in Regulatory Charges per month you have only one option, and that is to terminate service with Sprint within 30 days of the date of your receipt of new fee. Terminating service MUST be stated for this reason in order to waive the Early Termination Fee, and solely for this reason alone, and it must be cited that it is a “materially adverse charge” to the contract you signed.
Also starting January 1st 2010, Sprint is making slight adjustments to their Terms and Conditions. To what respect, I’m not exactly sure, but some blogs are reporting that there isn’t anything new in the fine print, however you still should take a look at sprint.com/termsandconditions and see if you can spot the new information. At the time of this writing, the link for Sprint’s Terms and Conditions is down. Oh what a coincidence?
Sprint has one more fee up its sleeve for January 2010, and this one is specifically marketed for a majority of its customer base… Account Spending Limit customers will be charged a fee of $4.99 per month per account if they do not opt-in for Autopay. The fee will start January 10 2010, and unfortunately after talking to many different reps, and agents in Account Relations at Sprint, it has been determined that the fee can not be waived, and will apply for new customers, as well as existing customers, in contract or not. For those wishing to waive the fee, there is 3 remedies to do so, and they are not all pretty….
1. Sign up for Autopay, and avoid paying the $4.99 (poor people fee, as I call it), and have Sprint take out your monthly charges whenever they like, even before the bill is printed and sent, and even before the due date.
2. Ask to be removed from the Account Spending Limit Program. Sprint will review your credit automatically after 12 and 18 months, and will remove you if you have no late payments, or account suspensions for failure to pay on file in the last 12 consecutive months. For many people on Spending Limit, this isn’t going to work as many Spending Limit customers have had their service turned off at least once due to the confusing and often frustrating break-down of how the program actually works, and what charges are due and when.
3. Terminate service. Yes Sprint will allow you to terminate service without paying the Early Termination Fee as per your contract, and their own Terms and Conditions, if you cite that this is the reason you are canceling service. Also it is of note that this is a “materially adverse charge” to your account, and that you are terminating your agreement solely based on this alone.
It’s important to note that the official stance with Sprint is that once you terminate service, you lose your phone number, and are no longer offered service. However, it might be wise to contact Sprint on January 10 2010 and specifically ask if you are able to terminate service, but wish to port your number over to another provider, and would like notes placed on your account that signify the waiver of the Early Termination Fee.
While it has been reported that some subscribers of Sprint are citing this as a change to their contract, they also are specifically stating that they wish to retain their line of service, but cancel the contract to which these charges applies…essentially moving from contract plan to month-to-month retaining the plan they have. Again, this is not in Sprint’s official policy to do this, however, many blogs are reporting that this has been done for Sprint customers in the past via Account Relations. It CAN NOT be done prior to the date the change or charges take effect however. It also should not be expected.
At this point, I don’t see why Sprint WOULDNT want to cancel the contract, but retain you as a customer, even if month-to-month. Any subscriber is a good subscriber on any account, so long they are a subscriber and continue to pay happily for their service.
I have brought this up to Sprint today, and specifically asked if I could be removed from the Spending Limit Program (and I was after a brief period on hold), or if I could remain a customer but switch from contract to month-to-month if I was not able to be removed from Spending Limit Program. Sprint informed me that I would need to call back after the new fee takes affect to see how Sprint could accommodate me.
While I enjoy my Sprint service at this point in time… I have great features like Pick 5 Unlimited Calling (no longer offered, even to retention customers), and 6PM Nights and weekends, as well as Any Mobile Anytime, 60 Bonus Minutes and a 25% off discount… I feel that I may ask to cancel in the hopes I can move from contract to month-to-month plan (keeping the current plan I have), so Sprint can retain me as a customer. I’ll gladly pay the extra Regulatory fee if it means that I am not in a contract. I’m more likely to stay, then cite that as a reason to leave, and Sprint be less one customer.
Hope this blog has helped you out with the new changes.




