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Locked: Beware of cancelling a Telus Contract

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I think people here are missing the point that I was trying to make.

Obviously, I don't know much about phone contracts, and no I didn't read my contract when I signed it back when I was 16; so forgive me if I was ignorant back then (perhaps still a bit now?).

I didn't rant on about not wanting to pay it, to me it didn't make too much of a difference because $248 paid today will make no difference to me if paid throughout 12 months.

What did frustrate me, and eventually caused me to call Telus was the fact that the representatives trained, hired, and paid by Telus were giving me false information.

This was the first time I was misinformed on something this large (in terms of money).

I have been misinformed about the number of items available in a store before. I have even "lost" a product that was put on hold for me. This happens because there are employees hired by companies who don't care about the customers nor the company, they just want to get paid and leave work for the day. I know this first hand because I've worked with people like this.

This is not the first time anyone here on RFD was provided with false information about some policy.
tkyoshi wrote:The funny thing is Telus' Termination fee is the easiest to find it's right on the website, for other providers you gotta read through the actual contract. All have a $100 minimum.
Given my assumption, I'd thought that people at the Telus mobility booths and stores would be knowledgeable to a certain degree to provide me answers to my questions ... guess I was wrong
bubble.tea wrote:This is common knowledge to people in the know...IE people on the forums who do a fair bit of reading in various market aspects. Sorry you had to have it SPRUNG on you as such.
I find your reply quite rude, but anyway; not every person is capable of acquiring all "common knowledge" now can they ;) ?
komal wrote:I thought this was common knowledge as EVERY carrier has a contract cancellation fee.

It doesn't make any sense, what would be the point of the contract if you could break it anytime without any penalties?
You should re-read my post, I don't think you understood my point. But if you don't want to re-read, thats fine; I knew that there was a contract cancellation fee, I just was misinformed on how I'd be charged.
rabbit wrote:LOL, really. I don't get what the problem is either. Telus did what the guys at Howard Forums said they would do.

Also, I don't get ...

> My plan was decent, but I didn't like their phones,

What, did they hide all the available phones until after you signed up?
What I was told was different from your interpretation. After closing the account, I would still receive a bill every month until the expiring month on my contract, during which; the bill would be $20+tax.

No, all their phones are just crap in my opinion. I don't like blackberry's nor do I like the LG's and Samsung's offered by Telus. I am much happier with my current SE K800i.
EmperorOfCanada wrote: Sorry OP but I don't think this is bad on Telus part. A $400 or even $500 maximum wouldn't be unreasonable but they don't choose to do that and I can hardly blame them.

The misunderstanding was on your part, which sucks, but such it life.
Absolutely not, if I misunderstood the HowardForum people, then fine ... but the fact that more than one Telus representative (I spoke to 3 just to confirm it) is makes the misunderstanding their fault not mine.
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Frankly, if you are telling me that you specifically asked 'I pay $20 a month until its over, each month, not as a lump sum' and they told you yes, 3 times 3 different reps, I just dont believe you. No offense, I just dont.

I think you were phrasing it in such a way that they were just confirming what they already thought you understood.
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Dark-Colonel wrote: ....I find your reply quite rude, but anyway; not every person is capable of acquiring all "common knowledge" now can they ;) ?...
I beg your pardon. Had I said point blank, as others did, "everybody knows this as common knowledge" THAT would've been quite presumptuous on my part-as you yourself did not know it, so that disproves that standpoint. What I did was SPECIFY the cirumstances upon which it is common sense-making it quite clear that there remain many circumstances whereby it is not at all common knowledge: "Those in the know", and those who are "on the forums". I think if anything my post was the quintessential display of tact and Politesse (my french teacher would be proud) :twisted: I could've answered as others have point blank, but I know where you're coming from...though it shocks me when people remain quite clueless all along.

Just like how I see people trying to sell CityFido contracts even today LMAO.


NOW having said that, I'm still confused what exactly is your beef.
I found out that you are suppose to be billed $20 + taxes a month for the remaining months of your contract.
This is a simple misunderstanding on your part. You thought that you'd be billed $20+taxes each month till your contract ended? So if you had 20months left...THAT would be the cancellation settlement? How does that make any sense? As stated earlier-if that's the case-it would've benefited you to simply suspend your account, or get some $10 emergency plan (huge ymmv allbeit) or a $17.50 plan and keep your line active. I find it quite hard to believe that IN ALL your ventures to enquire as to your options you didn't glean that it was a one-time cancellation fee at the final billing month TO THE TUNE of $20XM where M = remaining months in your contract. Come now...surely you can't expect anybody to believe you REALLY misunderstood THAT now...do you?

I mean., if it's the telus dealers only saying that (though that is hard to believe), I find it hard to believe that the HOFO Telus peeps were also not able to convey this verity to you as well.

Either way, I feel your pain....but suck it up princess :( .

Ninja edit: and to show that I am sympathetic to your plea...I am the first to 'thank you' for this thread. LOL.
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Unfortunately I think you were hearing what you wanted and not what the reps were telling you.

It's fairly common knowledge and all the carries do the same thing. They will charge you your full amount on your last bill. It doesn't make any sense for these companies to continue billing you until your contract is up.

Then people will just get angry because these companies wouldn't automatically close the account at the end of the contract. Instead they would continue to get billed.

For future reference if you want to make your payments drawn out over the remainder of your contract what you'll have to do is:

get pay as you go phone and have a new number assigned to it.
Do a number swap with your paygo phone and your actual line.
Then transfer your original number over to your new carrier.
Get the min amount monthly plan your carrier offers.
When your contract on your original carrier is finished cancel it.

Of course doing that will cost you a bit more money. I think $35 for a number swap and however much it cost to get a paygo phone up and running.


If you don't want to keep your original phone number then just lower you plan to the lowest cost plan your original carrier offers and open a new account with the new carrier.
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Evil Baby wrote: ....
Then people will just get angry because these companies wouldn't automatically close the account at the end of the contract. Instead they would continue to get billed. ....
hehe...that's actually an awesome point. IT would so definately happen hehe. Hey I think you should present this as a money-making PonzeScheme to the wireless providers hehe. I wonder if they'll bite :D .
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bubble.tea wrote: hehe...that's actually an awesome point. IT would so definately happen hehe. Hey I think you should present this as a money-making PonzeScheme to the wireless providers hehe. I wonder if they'll bite :D .
If they do and they give you some weird bonus or consulting fee don't forget where you got the idea :cheesygri
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bubble.tea wrote:I beg your pardon. Had I said point blank, as others did, "everybody knows this as common knowledge" THAT would've been quite presumptuous on my part-as you yourself did not know it, so that disproves that standpoint. What I did was SPECIFY the cirumstances upon which it is common sense-making it quite clear that there remain many circumstances whereby it is not at all common knowledge: "Those in the know", and those who are "on the forums". I think if anything my post was the quintessential display of tact and Politesse (my french teacher would be proud) I could've answered as others have point blank, but I know where you're coming from...though it shocks me when people remain quite clueless all along.
I do apologize in that case, I guess I took it too harsh considering how everyone else in this thread seems to have pitchforks and fire against me.

I also appreciate you thanking me for the thread lol.
EmperorOfCanada wrote:Frankly, if you are telling me that you specifically asked 'I pay $20 a month until its over, each month, not as a lump sum' and they told you yes, 3 times 3 different reps, I just dont believe you. No offense, I just dont.

I think you were phrasing it in such a way that they were just confirming what they already thought you understood.
That is exactly what I am telling you, and I really don't care that you don't believe me. You don't have to reply.

No, they weren't confirming it that way because I went in asking them as If I had absolutely no clue on how canceling a contract works.

It's called human error, read through other threads similar to mine about being "misinformed", each time you'll read through the same thing; people sometimes tell people the wrong thing because they themselves aren't well informed on the subject matter.
Evil Baby wrote:Unfortunately I think you were hearing what you wanted and not what the reps were telling you.

It's fairly common knowledge and all the carries do the same thing. They will charge you your full amount on your last bill. It doesn't make any sense for these companies to continue billing you until your contract is up.

Then people will just get angry because these companies wouldn't automatically close the account at the end of the contract. Instead they would continue to get billed.
I think I shot myself in the foot here by not going into enough detail. I didn't go alone, I went with 2 other friends (1 happens to be a girl if that makes any kind of difference to you) and I told them what happened to me and they were just as shocked as I was since I was there and they were there right next to me. So no I wasn't hearing what I wanted to hear.

Thanks for the advice, but I don't see my self canceling my Rogers plan anytime soon since I have a great plan, great service, and a phone that I really enjoy.
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Dark-Colonel wrote: I think I shot myself in the foot here by not going into enough detail. I didn't go alone, I went with 2 other friends (1 happens to be a girl if that makes any kind of difference to you) and I told them what happened to me and they were just as shocked as I was since I was there and they were there right next to me. So no I wasn't hearing what I wanted to hear.

Thanks for the advice, but I don't see my self canceling my Rogers plan anytime soon since I have a great plan, great service, and a phone that I really enjoy.
Well if your conversation with the Telus rep went anything like your Hofo discussion then I could easily see where the confusion would come in on both sides.
Quote from HOFO
1) From what I know, I only have to pay $20/month for the remainder of my contract (12x 20 = $240) even though my plan with everything on it is around $50 a month (12x 50 = $1100)
If that's the information that you took to the Telus rep and asked in that fashion I can fully understand how you might think you'd be paying $20 a month for the next 12 months and how the rep would know you'd be paying the full $240 up front.

Just for future reference, don't expect any contract to be canceled and you not have to pay the remaining full amount in 1 lump sum.
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I just dont believe that human error happened that many times in a row. Once or twice I could believe as possible, but 3 times is a little far fetched.

I am a regular on Howard Forums, how about you link the thread you are talking about where you asked? Might lend you some believability.

Also I am sorry you find us 'with pitchforks' or rude, in fact I am not trying to be rude at all. I am in the industry so what I find common sense and very simple, I recognize that the average Joe may not know nearly as much and cant be expected to have the same amount of understanding.

However you post in a public forum, and you have to be willing to expect feedback that you dont agree with.
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EmperorOfCanada wrote: I just dont believe that human error happened that many times in a row. Once or twice I could believe as possible, but 3 times is a little far fetched.

I am a regular on Howard Forums, how about you link the thread you are talking about where you asked? Might lend you some believability.

Also I am sorry you find us 'with pitchforks' or rude, in fact I am not trying to be rude at all. I am in the industry so what I find common sense and very simple, I recognize that the average Joe may not know nearly as much and cant be expected to have the same amount of understanding.

However you post in a public forum, and you have to be willing to expect feedback that you dont agree with.
http://www.howardforums.com/showthread. ... ge=1&pp=15

It's not you specifically, but I'm not going to point out names. So I'm sorry if I offended you.

I am aware of posting in public forums. Not all 2,600 posts are just "bumps" and arrows pointing up lol.

No one actually confirmed or denied my point A, but I talked to 2 other members about giving away my contract which I couldn't if I wanted to keep my number (through PM's). They confirmed what I originally thought was true, guess I was talking to the wrong people ....
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Dark-Colonel wrote: http://www.howardforums.com/showthread. ... ge=1&pp=15

It's not you specifically, but I'm not going to point out names. So I'm sorry if I offended you.

I am aware of posting in public forums. Not all 2,600 posts are just "bumps" and arrows pointing up lol.

No one actually confirmed or denied my point A, but I talked to 2 other members about giving away my contract which I couldn't if I wanted to keep my number (through PM's). They confirmed what I originally thought was true, guess I was talking to the wrong people ....
Maybe I'm just stupid, please point out in that link where anyone told you that you would pay $20 per month for the rest of the contract duration.
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Evil Baby wrote: ....don't forget where you got the idea :cheesygri
and where praytell would that be?










:cheesygri
Dark-Colonel wrote: I do apologize in that case, I guess I took it too harsh considering how everyone else in this thread seems to have pitchforks and fire against me.
No worries!
I also appreciate you thanking me for the thread lol.
Well if the powers that be decided it wasa good plug-in to incorporate., then it must be used at every opportunity!
....1 happens to be a girl if that makes any kind of difference to you...
Depends who's listening to this convo... :lol:
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bubble.tea wrote: Depends who's listening to this convo... :lol:
giggedy giggedy giggedy
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Hi there,

Did you try filing a complaint here?
http://www.ccts-cprst.ca/

Ju Leon...
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inferno_gn wrote: Hi there,

Did you try filing a complaint here?
http://www.ccts-cprst.ca/

Ju Leon...
I don't think it warrants a complaint?

Under contract law, it is correct upon termination of the contract the penalty is immediately payable. If there is no penalty outlined, that's when companies go to court to sue for damages, but when it's set out in the physical contract that's the amount you pay as the party breaking the contract.
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Dark-Colonel wrote: No one actually confirmed or denied my point A, but I talked to 2 other members about giving away my contract which I couldn't if I wanted to keep my number (through PM's). They confirmed what I originally thought was true, guess I was talking to the wrong people ....
It was after those PMs that I approached Telus with canceling my contract.

As I said before, when I went to Telus; I asked them how canceling a contract works. I told them I had no clue how it works and what to do, and so they explained it to me. Hence the whole point of this thread.

You guys keep assuming that I approached them and asked them whether I am right or wrong, which did not happen.
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Dark-Colonel wrote: It was after those PMs that I approached Telus with canceling my contract.

As I said before, when I went to Telus; I asked them how canceling a contract works. I told them I had no clue how it works and what to do, and so they explained it to me. Hence the whole point of this thread.

You guys keep assuming that I approached them and asked them whether I am right or wrong, which did not happen.
But you didn't ask what you intended to ask.
I think with this post, people there assumed you knew you'd be paying $240 up front because you put the total. You didn't say you'd be paying 20/mth for 12 months. You just said you'd be paying 20/mth for the remaining time left on your contract ie you're calculating your penalty amount.
From what I know, I only have to pay $20/month for the remainder of my contract (12x 20 = $240) even though my plan with everything on it is around $50 a month (12x 50 = $1100)
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This story is absolute crap. Many people don't realize that dealers don't particularly care about making the sale, they care about keeping the customers they already have happy and not complaining. Every dealers biggest source of income is from our residuals, not from the commissions from the activations. Any time a major complaint against a dealer occurs or they have a deactivation, its a negative score against the over all yearly payout from telus. So to say that some dealers lied about this, risking their residual is entirely made up.

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