Get Out Of Your Cell Contract Penalty-Free
POSTED: 10:13 am EST December 15,
2005
UPDATED: 10:31 am EST December 15,
2005
There is a new legal way to get out of your cell phone contract when you become fed up with high bills or bad reception, without getting hit with huge costs for breaking your contract.The new solution is called Celltradeusa.com, which matches people wanting to get out of their cell phone contracts with people willing to take their contracts over.Cell phone user Ashley Siudmak was not only unhappy with her cell phone reception, but her contract was costing her too much each month. She said her phone was costing her $200 to $300 a month.
"I was going over my minutes a lot; I didn't have a lot of minutes," said Siudmak. "It was very costly."In order to get out of her contract, Siudmak would have had to pay $200 with T-Mobile. She went to Celltradeusa.com the service found Suidmak someone willing to take Ashley's cell phone and her 600-minute, $70-per-month plan. The cell phone company was told that both parties wanted to make the transfer and in a few days Suidmak was free."I thought it was too good to be true," said Suidmak. "I love (Celltrade), it's great. It saved me a lot of money."According to Eric Wurtenberg, one of the founders of Celltradeusa.com, he came up with the idea for the service after watching so many frustrated cell phone users trying to get out of their contracts. Wurtenburg said that the Web site charges $19.99 for the service of having your phone and services transferred to another party. Wurtenberg said that the most surprising aspect of his new business is that the number of people coming to his Web site for phone service is double the amount of people looking to get rid of their contracts.Wurtenberg said that the Web site is so attractive to phone service seekers because, instead of being roped into a year or two year contract, the customer can take over a contract with only a few months left on the contract."They can potentially get a free phone, maybe a free bluetooth headset and maybe save themselves a $35 activation fee if they had gotten a new phone," said Wurtenberg.As for Siudmak, she went shopping on Celltradeusa.com to find her new plan with Nextel."All of my friends have it," said Siudmak. "I love the walkie talkie. I don't go over my minutes anymore."David Samberg of Verizon Wireless said that his company is more than willing to facilitate the exchange between two parties, as long as the account being traded is in good standing.T-Mobile says that the celltrade Web site circumvents the intent of the contracts' provisions that allow transfers to friends and family. Cingular says that the exchange can take place as long as the person taking over the contract has good credit.
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