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Dumping ISP May Cost Customers $150

Posted by Zonk on from the argh-my-consumer-rights dept.

Dumpling$9 writes with a link to an article that seems to speak volumes about the modern consumer relationship with service providers. IBT reports on the outrageous fees facing users who drop their internet service contracts before they are up. "Pricing broadband competition can be difficult. Broadband is rarely priced as a stand-alone service. Whether offered by a telephone company or a cable company, it is usually bundled with other services such as voice and video. The advantage to the customer is easier billing and usually a price break. But the down side is if they drop one of the services to pursue a better deal elsewhere, they lose the discount ... It remains to be seen whether penalties for Internet customers will cut down on churn. Consumers Union in its annual cell phone survey found that nearly half of all cell phone subscribers who were considering switching carriers were deterred from doing so because of early termination penalties."

2 of 268 comments (clear)

  1. Why do we do these things? by writermike · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I am waiting for the corporate apologists to show up.

    "Hey! Why don't you read the fine print."
    "Gimp! Research your damn options and pay the extra $60/month for a contract-free options."
    "GUH! I have no patience for stupid consumers."

    But, seriously folks, why are these things okay?

    Why is small, difficult-to-read fine print okay?
    Why can't features be in fine print gotchas be in large print?
    Why is it that a company can advertise something as true that others can show to be false?
    Why can a company call themselves "perfect" when it's not?
    Why is it okay that a company obfuscates things from their potential consumers?

    But, I know, I'm stupid because I didn't understand the legalese. I'm an ass because I didn't pay the extra fee for the contract-free option. I'm stupid because I didn't pay the extra $60/month.

    Of course, I'm stupid until one of these little things hits the one that accuses me. Then they're like, "HeeeeeY! WTF, yo?"

    As though...

    m

    --
    If Nalgene water bottles are outlawed, only outlaws will have Nalgene water bottles.
  2. Dumping the ISP may cost the consumer, but what if by Organic+Brain+Damage · · Score: 5, Interesting

    the ISP dumps the consumer?

    I've got 3 friends who have had their Cable Modems turned off because "they used excessive bandwidth." In those cases, I suspect the early termination fees are not recoverable. If that's the way it works, and you want out, just write up a little program that downloads lots of big files...put it in an infinite loop and voila...in a month or two, the ISP will cancel you.