Get out of 75 percent of your ETF with AT&T prepaid

I caught this bit over at Consumerist, and thought it would be of interest to those of you who want to switch to prepaid, but are still stuck with a contract plan. This involves AT&T, so it will only work if you already have them, and are willing to switch to AT&T GoPhone prepaid service. Of course, you might have to be a master negotiator, like the person who wrote into Consumerist.

The idea is to call them and let them know you plan to drop your contract. You’ll presumably be charged the $175 early termination fee, since the prorated fees only count for new customers. This is where you step in and say you’d like to switch to a prepaid account. Then the negotiations begin.

They might try to sell you on a different package, and offer you discounts. But, apparently, CSRs have enough wiggle room that they can give you 75 percent off the early termination fee if you go with GoPhone. And what’s the risk, really? You can leave at any time, which is one of the advantages of prepaid cell phone accounts.

If you give it a whirl and it works, drop me a line at editor at prepaidreviews.

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3 Responses

1. PrepaidWirelessGuy Says
   

   Good idea. From my experience, CSRs often have wiggle room (as you say) that requires some negotiations. When I was with Bell Mobility, I got them to waive the $6.95 monthly fee by agreeing to another year contract. The allowable amount was based on my spend to date, and they could give back a certain percentage of that. The trick is to be polite and yet stern. If you get angry or nasty, you won’t get a desirable response. Afterall, CSRs are human too, so if you get mean, they’re not inclined to want to give you the best deal. Lastly, don’t hesitate to kindly request to speak with the manager on duty.

   Cheers,
   PrepaidWirelessGuy
   http://www.prepaid-wireless-guide.com

   
   Posted on August 5th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
2. B Says
   

   FYI, this doesn’t work. Just called in to try it. They wouldn’t touch the ETF at all.

   
   Posted on September 23rd, 2008 at 9:10 am
3. Joe Says
   

   I called and tried to do this and it is actually easier than that. when i called they said that they would just be able to simply switch the phone i had to a gophone. everything would be the same except i would have to buy minutes and i could cancel any time i wanted, with no termination fee at all.

   
   Posted on April 12th, 2009 at 9:16 pm

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