If you think getting whacked a $150 fee for trying to cancel a T-Mobile contract for the new Google Nexus One smartphone is pricey, imagine the poor customers only yesterday who had to pay $350 to it!
Following a federal inquiry investigating unfair charges consumers face when breaking their service early, Google knocked $200 off the fee. However consumers who break their service contracts will still have to pay a T-Mobile early termination fee of $200 (bringing the total fee cost up to $350 from $550 as it had been). Ouch!
Subscribers who break the contract after 120 days will not have to pay any fee.
Federal regulators have also asked all the major carriers (AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile) to detail their approaches and rationale for early termination fees, whether they prorate charges if consumers cancel closer to the end of their service and whether trial periods are offered to let new subscribers leave without being penalized.