Interesting People mailing list archives

Re: Cancelling Nexus One triggers TWO "early termination fees"?


From: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:43:35 -0500





Begin forwarded message:

From: Wes Felter <wesley () felter org>
Date: January 12, 2010 5:04:48 PM EST
To: NNSquad <nnsquad () nnsquad org>
Subject: [ NNSquad ] Re: Cancelling Nexus One triggers TWO "early termination fees"?


IMO it's time to treat subsidized phone agreements as what they really are -- loans. Sure, this gets into banking regulation, but shenanigans such as the Google/T-Mobile issue are exactly why those regulations were invented. At least with a loan (1) you know exactly how much you have left to repay and (2) you can get out of the loan by repaying the remaining principal (not more).

Wes Felter

  [ When situations get this complex from a consumer/support
    standpoint, it tends to be a red flag that something may be
    amiss.  Even if the underlying pricing is sound and justifiable,
    if the overall experience becomes needlessly complex nobody
    comes out ahead in the end.  Whether formal loans are a better
    solution than the current framework I'll leave to the Econ
    wizards to ponder.

    It's interesting to note that (as I recall) in Califoria the
    cell phone industry didn't really take off until a prohibition
    against subsidized contracts was lifted.  Prior to that, paying
    full price for cell phones up front kept most people out of the
    marketplace.

      -- Lauren Weinstein
         NNSquad Moderator ]







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