A different type of early termination

Wow.  I have to say I have never heard of something like this.  A customer of Sprint\Nextel had her service canceled...by Sprint\Nextel. 

From this article...

What Rene didn't realize is that Sprint was keeping a tally of her phone calls, counting each transfer as a separate call to the support line. Finally, without warning, she was told in the June 29 letter to find another carrier.

"Our records indicate that over the past year, we have received frequent calls from you regarding your billing or other general account information," the letter reads. "While we have worked to resolve your issues and questions to the best of our ability, the number of inquiries you have made to us during this time has led us to determine that we are unable to meet your current wireless needs."

"Therefore after careful consideration, the decision has been made to terminate your wireless service agreement effective July 30, 2007."

Again, I have to say it...Wow.

Of course we don't know both sides of the story, but she said she had been making calls to customer service because they kept getting her bill wrong.  Five months in a row.  And then they send her this letter saying they are canceling her service because they, "were unable to meet [her] current wireless needs."

I recommend reading the article.  It goes on to describe how easy it is for a cell phone provider to lose money on their customers.  And how Verizon and AT&T claim they would never cancel a customer for this reason.  But that there are other reasons they will cancel your service. 

I can probably tell you how this went down.  She was probably lied to or misled by whoever sold her cell phone service to her.  Her plan was probably a promotional deal that had an end date and she did not know it.  So the promotion ended, she was confused, and called to find out what was going on.  Instead of telling her the TRUTH, the customer service rep just lowered her bill to get her off the phone as quickly as possible.  Rinse and repeat for five months and she gets a cancellation letter.

Final thought - was she in a contract?  If so, do they have to pay her an early-termination penalty?  :)