Verizon Wireless to Double Early Termination Fees

One of the biggest consumer gripes about the current cell phone networks is the necessity to sign a two-year contract in order to get decent prices. If they want or need to change providers, they must pay an early-termination fee, and no one likes more fees. Apparently, Verizon doesn’t care what consumers want because they plan to double the early-termination fees soon.

The news comes from a leaked Verizon document that outlines a new plan for early-termination fees that will take effect Nov. 15. The document says Verizon will charge a $350 fee for terminating contracts with “advanced devices.” There’s no explanation of what constitutes an advanced device, but you can bet the new smartphones, which are heavily subsidized by Verizon, fall under that category. The new plan decreases the fee by $10 per month, which means that even near the end of your 24-month contract you’ll still be required to pay over $100 to terminate.

BGR says this new plan is aimed at combating the people who scam the system. Some unscrupulous customers get a new BlackBerry with their Verizon plan, then cancel, pay the $175 early-termination fee, then sell the device for $300 or more on eBay. That’s a tidy profit, but a convoluted process. Either way, this new fee structure should limit the scammers, but hurt the legitimate customers that need to cancel.

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