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How to get out Bell cell phone contract

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  • Feb 20th, 2011 9:48 am
Jr. Member
Mar 12, 2005
188 posts
26 upvotes

How to get out Bell cell phone contract

I have a three year bell plan, and about 2 and half year left. I want to get out this crappy plan which cost me 60+tax. However, bell told me I need to pay 720$ something to get out of this? Is there any easy way to get rid of it? Thanks.
28 replies
Deal Addict
User avatar
Aug 3, 2009
2294 posts
721 upvotes
Nova Scotia
Contracts are legally binding. Once two parties agree to a contract, no one party can unilaterally terminate the contract unless it is a provision of the contract (most likely Bell can terminate the deal at any time). However, most phone contracts have a provision in them explaining how you can have the contract terminated. That usually involves you 'buying out' the contract at a one-time fee. Considering you have 2 years left, at 60/month thats like 1500 approx. 720 is less than that, but you don't really get anything out of it but getting out of the contract. Signing the paper does have legal consequences, which of the time are engineered to benefit the big corporation. You get a 'free' phone, which in reality probably cost the company like $20 for and they advertise it for like $400 and then give you that huge deal for signing up! You pay for it one way or another.

Options are: break the contract and risk either legal action (unlikely because it would cost more for a lawyer than they would get from you, although if you lost at court you would probably have to pay their legal costs, people don't go to court over 1500 usually, you might be able to make them settle for less) or loss of credit score. Try to offer Bell less than 720 and see if they bite, they probably won't.

Either option above will be a pain in the ass. 60/month for a phone seems to be the norm today for most people. See if you can reduce the options on your plan and you could probably knock it down by 20/month. People usually have features they never use or don't use enough to justify paying for it. They think 'oh I need unlimited texting' when in fact they use fewer texts than the cheaper alternative of like 1500 texts a month. People often pay for answering machine, caller ID and other features when it isn't really necessary for them (I think caller ID should be free and standard btw). The point is people say 'oh it's only $5/month for unlimited texting incase I really need it' and in reality that adds up to 180+tax on a 3 year plan. Check how you use your phone via your bill and either cut back on usage or reclaim money by reducing features to how you actually use it. I pay $35/month for my Bell bill which includes like caller id, 1500txts and some amount of minutes I don't know about because I don't talk on the phone a lot. If you have a data plan consider adjusting it as well or adjusting your usage because it's expensive without a plan. It's all about self restraint and compromise when you want to save money.
Deal Guru
User avatar
Oct 14, 2003
14325 posts
1241 upvotes
Seriously? You've had it 6 months and you're already looking for ways to weasel out of it? Some people's children...
Science
is the new
rock 'n'
roll.
Sr. Member
User avatar
Jun 2, 2008
504 posts
62 upvotes
Easiest way, pay the $720 fee like you agreed to do when you signed a 3 year contract. As much as I don't like Bell, signing up for 3 years and then trying to find a way to sneak out of your contract after 6 months is a bit sleazy.

Trying offering your phone and plan to someone on some classifieds somewhere, might have to sweeten the pot with a cash advance but its better than $720.
Deal Addict
User avatar
Oct 22, 2009
3345 posts
1680 upvotes
Lethbridge
The way I see it you have 2 options:

Either fake your own death and move to Zehuatanejo

or

Pay up.
Deal Addict
Sep 1, 2007
2741 posts
39 upvotes
toronto
$720!?

Can you please tell us what plan and phone you have?

I had a nice retention plan from Fido which included te 6GB data option. I was paying $50/month from September(start of my contract, so 33months left). I wanted to switch with Wind and asked on how much is it to opt out, they said $500 ( I got the 16GB IP4 ).

Luckily, I found someone to take over my plan w/o giving up my phone. I'm now with Wind with that fancy $40 plan :razz: with an expensive $600 alarm clock courtesy of Fido.
Deal Fanatic
User avatar
Sep 12, 2007
6145 posts
886 upvotes
Greely
I thought the ECF was $400?

Regardless, to the OP - you signed a contract. You knew what you were getting yourself into.
Deal Fanatic
Mar 21, 2002
6827 posts
1482 upvotes
Manitoba
Bell takes their contracts very seriously. You can check for a death clause but that's probably about the only out without the hefty penalty.

Next time put a little more thought into it before signing any contract for anything.
Deal Addict
User avatar
Nov 5, 2005
3172 posts
142 upvotes
Mississauga
DLFB wrote: $720!?

Can you please tell us what plan and phone you have?

I had a nice retention plan from Fido which included te 6GB data option. I was paying $50/month from September(start of my contract, so 33months left). I wanted to switch with Wind and asked on how much is it to opt out, they said $500 ( I got the 16GB IP4 ).

Luckily, I found someone to take over my plan w/o giving up my phone. I'm now with Wind with that fancy $40 plan :razz: with an expensive $600 alarm clock courtesy of Fido.

Sell the phone because the iPhone 4 is still in huge demand which can make you back a lot of your money.
Sr. Member
User avatar
Feb 10, 2009
655 posts
27 upvotes
woof wrote: Bell takes their contracts very seriously. You can check for a death clause but that's probably about the only out without the hefty penalty.

Next time put a little more thought into it before signing any contract for anything.

Pretty sure your estate pays out of your contract in the case of death.

So you're screwed, even in death.
Sr. Member
Nov 15, 2009
582 posts
512 upvotes
if you read your contract, it says early cancellation fees are $20/ month and a maximum of $400
they are trying to stiff you
Sr. Member
Aug 11, 2008
658 posts
37 upvotes
Victoria
you probably have a voice and data plan, so the max would be $600 within the first year, $400 for voice and $200 for data.

But since you have a voice and data plan, $60+tax is almost the minimum unless you got a palm pre. You can get rid of your data, pay the data cancellation fee of $200 and bring your plan down to the basic $25 plan. Or even change the plan to a lower priced voice and data plan, but they still start at $50 a month.
Deal Addict
User avatar
Jan 4, 2010
2021 posts
15 upvotes
Unfortunately, you signed the contract so there's really no easy way out. Although $720 seems quite excessive.
Deal Fanatic
Mar 21, 2002
6827 posts
1482 upvotes
Manitoba
aggronieszka wrote: Pretty sure your estate pays out of your contract in the case of death.

So you're screwed, even in death.

Actually I believe BellTV does a no penalty contract cancellation in the event the contract holder dies. Don't know if the cell phone division is the same though.
Deal Addict
Mar 11, 2008
1281 posts
39 upvotes
Langley
I would really love to hear how fair the OP thinks it would be if Bell suddenly called them and told them that they did not care that the contract was for 3 years and they were extending it to 4. I am sure they would be on here ranting and threatening to sue. Why do people think that its fair for them to try to weasel out of legal contract that they sign but complain if the corporation they signed with wants to make them honour it?
Deal Fanatic
User avatar
Oct 27, 2008
6964 posts
65 upvotes
Ottawa
Your best bet quite frankly is to wait for your 1 year to be up, and that should reduce the cancellation fee to $400. Or if you wait for the full 1 year to be up, you can remove the data without penalty, and keep your basic plan as someone else mentioned.
Newbie
Jan 20, 2011
6 posts
Mississauga
Hopefully you learn a lesson from this debacle you have gotten yourself into. Never use any Bell product. I myself learned the hard way.
Deal Expert
User avatar
Dec 11, 2005
20136 posts
2964 upvotes
vdubber wrote: if you read your contract, it says early cancellation fees are $20/ month and a maximum of $400
they are trying to stiff you
He probably also has a data ECF too, which is additional.

People really have to start paying attention to their contacts they sign with these cell companies. I sign contracts to get free phones too, but I know what I am signing when I do it.
To be nobody but yourself - in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else - means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting. -- E. E. Cummings
Deal Expert
User avatar
Dec 11, 2005
20136 posts
2964 upvotes
Ursal751 wrote: Hopefully you learn a lesson from this debacle you have gotten yourself into. Never use any Bell product. I myself learned the hard way.
The lesson should be "read the damn contract you sign'. This has nothing to do with Bell as all cell phone companies require hefty ECF fees unless you pay a bunch for the phone. This guy should not be signing things he doesn't understand - 6 months into the contact and he wants to bail? This SCREAMS immature.
To be nobody but yourself - in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else - means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting. -- E. E. Cummings

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