Not too long ago we reported on rumors of an impending change Sprint was going to be making to it’s Terms of Service in how they calculated discounts on Business and Family Shared plans. Well that rumor is now fact. The below is an insert in the current bill going out for Sprint, going into effect on the February bill cycle.
Discount Policy Change Notice
Effective your February bill cycle, Family and
Business Share monthly plan charges will be
billed differently. Discounts will only apply to
the monthly recurring charge of the primary
line. Line 2 will be billed at the applicable
Add-a-Phone rate and will not be discount
eligible.
Click past the break to see what your options are.
This does in fact violate the Terms of Service and represents a material breach of contract, and in doing so allows you to cancel the contract without an ETF (early termination fee).
Here is the specific clause from the ToS (emphasis is Sprint’s):
Our Right To Change The Agreement & Your Related Rights
We may change any part of the Agreement at any time, including, but not limited to, rates, charges, how we calculate charges, discounts, coverage, technologies used to provide services, or your terms of Service. We will provide you notice of material changes—and we may provide you notice of non-material changes—in a manner consistent with this Agreement (see “Providing Notice To Each Other Under The Agreement” section). If a change we make to the Agreement is material and has a material adverse effect on Services under your Term Commitment, you may terminate each line of Service materially affected without incurring an Early Termination Fee only if you: (a) call us within 30 days after the effective date of the change; and (b) specifically advise us that you wish to cancel Services because of a material change to the Agreement that we have made. If you do not cancel Service within 30 days of the change, an Early Termination Fee will apply if you terminate Services before the end of any applicable Term Commitment.
So you have 30 days from the effective date of the change, meaning your entire February bill cycle, to cancel otherwise you accept the change and the Agreement goes on. If you do decide to cancel, be wary of the uninformed Customer Care associate who is not familiar with the ToS (and very few are) as they will attempt to say this change does not allow you to cancel without the ETF. However, here is the key phrase to keep in your arsenal: “If a change we make to the Agreement is material and has a material adverse effect.“
This change is obviously material and the adverse effect is as it relates to you. They cannot tell you that this is not adversely effecting you as you are paying the bill, not them. They further provide you with the terminology to use when contact Customer Care:Â “specifically advise us that you wish to cancel Services because of a material change to the Agreement that we have made.“
Good luck.
This looks like my chance to get away from Sprint once and for all….
I wonder how this will affect family plans since it is a single line on the bill and the discount is taken off that line. Â
This is only for Shared accounts.Which applies to Shared Business and Family
I have 4 accounts under a 1500 minute Family Shared plan. I received that notification stating that the discount is changing. It is expensive as it is, paying 4G (oh sorry, now it’s simply called smartphone fee) fee for all of the devices. The “main” account keeps being moved around, so I never know which one is. As far as I know, the main account is the one with my phone number, since I’m the one that pays. Anyway, does this mean it’d be affecting the main line, the main and the second line, only the second line? or all of the lines?
They already removed the discount for 3rd and 4th accounts a while back, and tired of Sprint having so much power that I just have to sit down and shut up while they keep raising my bill.
Enough is enough, but I’d rather be well-informed when I contact them regarding this. It may not be worth it, sadly, if it only lets me remove one line from the contract.
This is taking this into account:
“you may terminate each line of Service materially affected
without incurring an Early Termination Fee only if you: (a) call us
within 30 days after the effective date of the change; and (b)
specifically advise us that you wish to cancel Services because of a
material change to the Agreement that we have made.”
It would be affecting the 2nd line. Basically the 3rd and 4th already have their discount removed and are $19.99. The change that will happen is the 1st line will now be $110.00 and the 2nd line will be $19.99 (meaning the base shared plan is $129.99 so they haven’t changed the cost of the plan itself) but the discount (if you have one) will only be applied to the $110.00 instead of the $129.99 as before.Â
If you don’t have a discount on your plan, then you won’t be affected. And it goes into effect on your February bill cycle - and so you’ll have 30 days from the beginning of that bill cycle in order to call in and use the verbiage they give you.