I'm wondering if anyone else knows how we need to go about this. We had Sprint PCS as our cell phone provider, but we finally borke our contract 4 months ago, and switched to Nextel. Sprint was nothing but billing errors, unwarranted service suspensions, customer service problems, poor reception, and did I mention HORRIBLE customer service? So, a few weeks back Nextel and Sprint announced plans for a merger. Not only will I be a "Sprint" customer again, but I'll have to buy new phones, since my (brand new) iDen phones will be obsolete. I would rather gouge my eardrums out then have anything to do with Sprint PCS again, and I certainly don't want to buy new phones, or extend a contract which is already 2 years. Do they have to let us out of our contract after the merger? (Without paying the $200 per line cancellation fee?) It's just a major pain because we chose Nextel because they were not Sprint. (I was also working for Nextel, but my store closed, and I didn't want to transfer.) TIA

By Christylee on Thursday, January 20, 2005 - 10:34 pm:

I have no idea but thought I'd bump this up for you. Hope someone can help you.

By Boxzgrl on Friday, January 21, 2005 - 10:57 am:

I honestly don't think you have to keep them. Don't you have 30 days from a change in your contract to cancel it? And wouldn't a merge be a change in contract?

DH just started working for a cell phone company so I will ask him when he gets home. If he doesn't know, a co-worker can figure a way for you to get out of it without another fee.

Go Cingular, they're great so far!!! : LOL! And since they've merged with AT&T, they're suppose to have the most nationwide coverage.

By Cat on Friday, January 21, 2005 - 12:14 pm:

I mentioned this to my dh last night and he said the merger has been in the works for months. I don't know that you'll be able to get out of your contract, but it never hurts to call and ask. At the least, they should give you new phones. I'd bet if you called and calmly explained your situation and asked, "How can we work this out" they'd be more than willing to help you. Good luck.

By Palmbchprincess on Friday, January 21, 2005 - 02:09 pm:

Thanks everyone. Melissa, I had major problems with Cingular when we moved to TX, my ex was here and I was still in FL, with both lines on my account and detailed billing. They billed him a call to my phone, $40 in daytime overages, but the call never happened. Took forever to straighten out, and my contract was up so we switched. I'm now actually considering going back to them, it's been a few years and hopefully they have improved somewhat. (They were excellent in FL, but the SW region was horrible!)

By Boxzgrl on Friday, January 21, 2005 - 03:20 pm:

Well I won't say that Customer Service is great with Cingular but honestly i've had Sprint and TMobile as well and have never had good cell phone customer service with any of them. Sad! But honestly, there are always small holes that you can get through in a cell phone contract, you've just gotta look for them!

By Palmbchprincess on Friday, January 21, 2005 - 06:14 pm:

I just figure a change of ownership should give me an out, because Sprint is essentially buying Nextel, and I didn't sign a Sprint contract. I am sure it will take LOTS of arguing to get out of it though.

By Pamingo on Saturday, January 22, 2005 - 08:28 am:

Has anyone had an experience with Verizon?
We are ready to change phone service too,
they are rated high in Consumer Reports, but I
wondered if anyone has had a personal experience?

By Palmbchprincess on Saturday, January 22, 2005 - 03:03 pm:

Um, yeah... Verizon is on my list of companies to NEVER deal with again. I've not had good luck with cell phones in the TX region, Verizon had horrible customer service, and billing problems. I feel like they all have billing problems, which some people might not even notice, but since I used only cells for a while, I was super-aware of my bill, and always had more than enough minutes. So when I start going over (like with Verizon, I had an insane amount of minutes, and started getting overages anyway) I go over with a fine tooth comb. That's just my experience, I also know people who had no problems.

By Dawnk777 on Saturday, January 22, 2005 - 10:48 pm:

We have US Cellular with an insane amount of minutes and Sharetalk, so we can have 2 phones. We never go over our minutes and the bill is the same every month. Once, we got charged for roaming, even though DH was clearly in the coverage area. He called up and they cleared it right up.