Legal Question in Business Law in Florida

Question about contracts?

I signed on with a cellular phone provider approximately two years ago, at that time they had no contracts making me stay with time for a certain period of time. About six months ago i went to one of their retail stores and changed my monthly price plan and they did it no problem. So now today im trying to cancel my service and they are telling me that i am in a year long contract from the time i changed my monthly price plan. First of all my signature is on no piece of paper stating any sort of contract and when i asked them to produce a contract they stated that it was a verbal contract. Well i never verbally agreed to anything and the worker at the retail store neglected to tell me anything of the sort. Again when i asked the to produce evidence of me verbally agreeing to anything ''im sorry its in the computer as a contract there is nothing i can do about without charging you the $200 disconnection fee that is in this supposed contract'' that i never agreed to, nor do they have proof that i did. My question is, Am i legally under a contract from them and what would be your best advice on getting this issue resolved?


Asked on 9/07/01, 1:15 am

2 Answers from Attorneys
Randall Reder Randall O. Reder, P.A.

Re: Question about contracts?

Based on the information you provided there was

no verbal contract to pay a cancellation fee so

you do not have to. The company may report your

account as delinquent with a credit reporting agency.

You then have certain rights to challenge this

action under the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act.

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Answered on 10/26/01, 9:26 am
Peter Gonzalez Sanchez-Medina, Gonzalez, Quesada, Lage, Crespo, Gomez & MachadoLLP

Re: Question about contracts?

Based on the information you provide, it appears that the person at the retail shop screwed up by not having you sign the contract that is generally required or requested to be signed when switching plans. If there's no written contract that states that you are required to pay $200.00 in order to terminate the "contract" early, then the phone guy and his company have no basis for making such a demand. You cannot be charged a "contract cancellation fee" if no contract exists.

The story about the verbal contract is just that, a story. You can cancel your service and tell the carrier that you will gladly make payment of the $200.00 when it provides you with a copy of the contract that does not exist. However, you may have a problem keeping the same cell phone number if you switch to another carrier. No matter what happens, I don't recommend you spend money on a lawyer on this one. It's not worth it. Good luck.

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Answered on 10/25/01, 4:58 pm


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