Update: A Sprint internal memo to employees confirms that this change is considered material and does justify opting out of your contract for free.
Starting on your February 2012 bill, Sprint will no longer offer an employee discount on any of the additional lines.
From your January Sprint bill:
“Important Information Relating To Your Sprint Bill
Discount Policy Change Notice
Effective your February bill cycle, Family and Business Share monthly plan charges will be billed differently.
Discounts will only apply to the monthly recurring charge of the primary line.
Line 2 will be billed at the applicable Add-a-Phone rate and will not be discount eligible.”
If you have more than one line and are receiving employee discount pricing you have the right to opt-out of your contract due to this material change in the price you will pay for your service.
In other words if you get 20% off your monthly bill due to who you work for (or where you go to college, etc.) that discount will now only apply to the primary line and not on the 2nd line.
Sprint may offer you a credit to keep your account, but you still have to right to refuse it and opt-out of your contract.
You will likely need to fight for this, but you should be able to get your account notated that your early termination fee will be waived when you port your number to another carrier. Of course Verizon and AT&T already implemented this a while ago, so don’t expect to pay less by porting away, but you probably can expect better service than what you get with Sprint…
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46 Comments On "Have A Sprint Family Plan With An Employee Discount? Get Out Of Your Contract For Free!"
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What are you saini have a family plan and the discount only applies on my main line 35 off 129.99???
So how can I opt out??
Dose it means that 100$ for 5 phones Is gone. Because I didn’t get any notification
didn’t this already happen about a year ago?
If I upgrade today, will I still be able to cancel without ETF, or does it will it have the above wording in the new contract?
Thanx
so if i got a new phone with my upgrade a month ago and i moved my plan to a family plan. Being that if i close my contract now (without being charged) due to the price change. can i still keep my new phone? if yes can i now go and open a new plan and receive another new phone???
that’s really funny! just yesterday I was on the phone with Sprint with a huge issue and I was considering cancelling my service, but it would cost me like $450, but since I get an employees discount your’e telling me its free! Hashgacha Protis. Baruch Hashem! (btw Dan, do you have the email address to Bob Johnson from sprint rep. I want to send him an e-mail. Thanks!)
I doubt you will be able to get out of contract for this, I tried it last time when they took the discount off all additional lines and they told me that it’s in the contract that they can change the discounts when they want. I think it’s worth a shot though, so I’ll make the phone call.
@#3
I also thought this was implemented a year ago???
Sprint booted me off my free& clear plan. They gave me 30 days..ladys name was hayes. Dan did this happen to you too?
@danq:
Yup, and I enjoy every day with my Galaxy Nexus because of it: http://www.dansdeals.com/archives/15089
@o baby:
Previously Sprint did this on lines 3-5.
Now Sprint is eliminating the discount on line 2, by breaking the cost for line 2 out of the main plan and onto its own line.
I dont get it. Don’t family plans come with a free second line? Do they mean the third line?
@Anonymous:
It’s not free, it’s just included in the cost.
Now they will be breaking out the cost of the 2nd line separately (as $19.99 per month) so that they don’t have to discount it anymore as it’s not in the primary plan.
thanks dan for the explanation
So all that’s happening for a lot of the people here, myself included is that you will lose another $5 of discounts on top of what they already took away. Their actual policy according to a conversation I recently had with them is that they apply the 25% discount to all charges of either $25 or $30 and over, I don’t remember which. By the additional lines being 19.99, they effectively nicely tell you that they’re not screwing you, they are just screwing you differently
I recently added a line and found they had completely removed the 25 percent then added it back to only the main 129.99 charge. Still worth it with unlimited data and text…
Are they randomly picking whom to boot off the old plans?
I do have the Free & Clear 1000 $50 plan with 4 additional lines at $0 add-on + a lotta freebies (2 BIS, 1 regular data free, etc) but I do NOT have any employee discount.
Am I at risk of booted anytime soon?
@Aay B.:
Anyone with $0 lines, unlimited plans with multiple lines, or more than 5 lines on a shared plan is at risk of being shut down.
why didnt i get this message?
Even With@Dan:
Dan, Sprint is still far cheaper than Verizon in every way. I know you had issues with them, but for those of us that have grandfathered plans with Sprint, there is absolutely nothing better. (I remember that post you linked from a while back, and it sounds like you abandoned ship in a huff because you were angry at Sprint)
Secondly, though I am not an Apple fan in any way, shape or form, iOS is still light-years ahead of Android. People are not lining up to buy the Galaxy Nexus, it’s Buggy and complicated like all other Android phones.
When people start lining up to buy Androids, I may change my mind.
I love your site Dan, but I don’t think anyone should leave a good Sprint plan unless Sprint drags you out by your feet kicking and screaming.
@Sprint:
Considering that Sprint wouldn’t let me have any WebOS/iOS/Android phone on my old plan I’m quite happy that they booted me when they did so that I was able to get unlimited data with VZW in the nick of time.
My voice service is much better, I no longer drop calls in all the old dead zones like I used to (even when I had my phone set to roam on Verizon), my data speeds are astronomical, and free LTE wifi tethering is pure awesomeness.
I love my Galaxy Nexus wholeheartedly. One of the greatest devices I’ve ever owned (next to my Vaio Z12 laptop). No idea what bugs you are referring to, but I haven’t suffered from them.
I’m not advising anyone to ditch their old Sprint plan, people will make their own decisions. I just report my own experiences which is all I can do.
@sprint People aren’t lining to get the galaxy nexus because they already have great phones i.e. the razor, galaxy 2, or the rezound etc. etc.(i would personally take any of those over an iphone).
@thekrin:
Android ICS/4.0 on the Galaxy Nexus is an incredible operating system. Frankly it combined with 4GLTE blows any iPhone out of the water, it’s not even a comparison.
dan,
could i max out on my family plan today with a a few more iphones and then cancel with out a fee?
so @dan post here some plans what der oilm can make , whats the cheapest on the market now etc
Any one have a good recomendation for the best “non smart phone” Sprint has to offer?
I have a 1600 landline minutes plan and unlimited data What is the best way to get a cheap sprint plan
Why are we the only ones who are held accountable on a contract? They should also have to fulfill the contract.
@srulie:
Its not available directly from Sprint, but the 2nd generation Palm Centro is as good as it gets for Sprint non-smartphones IMHO.
@yaakov:
Thats why you can opt out for free.
@nooch: how dare u?
@Dan: Thanks I will look into it
@Dan:
Dan: if i buy an iphone tomorrow at 200 or 100 bucks for a 2 years contract i can then cancel with no early termination fee and still keep the phone for that price?
I signed up to sprint 5 months ago with yossi in BoroPark he promised me the discount, a month later he told me it kicks in after 2 months and when it didn’t he passed me on to his partner Levi who explained to me that he couldn’t do it for me! Called sprint and they refused to anything outside of placing me on the student plan…with a new 2/year contract.
Will this loophole be available to me with the student discount?
@David:
what is ur plan (the student plan)?
dan, or anyone else, if i opt out of the contract can i keep my service without being locked in or do i have to give up my plan?
basically, at the end of the day, my family plan with 3 lines, which has an employee discount, can be cancelled right now with or without a cancellation fee? Dan, can you explain?
Gm Dan, I have the unlimited plan with 10 phones on it. I don’t use 5 of the phones but it still comes out cheaper then getting a 5 phone family plan from sprint. R u saying that they will be adding a new charge to the plan that I have from 4 yrs ago? Or as I have heard from lots of ppl for the last 2 yrs that they will cancel my plan. Which hasn’t happened yet
i was told by sprint that they dont know idfit will affect old plans……..
it was taken of Jan/31/2011
this is how sprints paying for the new ‘iphone’ they sell for so cheap
This is how Verizon does there discounts on employee lines. All discounts are on the primary.
I got out of my contract but dont want to spend more money by another company who will charge me overages for data. so i guess im stuck with sprint anyways.
they told me only if i leave i.e. they won’t mark it fulfilled.
has anyone been successful at canceling their Sprint account and not paying an ‘early termination fee’ with this argument? I think I will be trying it soon.
Dan can you please post about this again when you find out about another change in terms. I have just move 4 lines from Sprint to Verizon. I have 3 left on Sprint in Contract any ideas? I heard 800min Roaming can get you kicked off. They took away my 20% discount but I think it’s to late to act on this? Could I still get out with no ETF?