Apparently rock stars and record companies aren’t the only ones who can renegotiate their contracts. In an article for USA Today headlined Cellphone users set their sights on Apple’s iPhone, Jefferson Graham details how many cell phone users are currently looking for ways out of their existing service contracts even though they’ve never used or even seen an iPhone in person.
Atlanta software customer service manager Nate Mansfield is ready to dump his Verizon service with a year remaining on his contract, even though he’s perfectly satisfied with it.
Forrester Research analyst Charles Golvin thinks many consumers will make the jump to Cingular and either pay an early-termination fee or wait out their contracts.
“A small portion of people don’t care about money, will have to have the iPhone, and buy — or haggle — their way out of the contracts,” he says. “Most people will just wait for their contracts to expire.”
Meghann Marco, associate editor of The Consumerist, says it is possible to get out or your wireless contract without paying a hefty early-termination fee and offers tips for pulling it off.
“People are desperately looking for ways to cancel their service so they can get the iPhone,” Marco said. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
One option mentioned in the article is to assign the remainder of the contract to a friend or relative. In response, the site Celltrade USA.com was launched to help cellphone subscribers find “friends.”
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