The Mystery of Cell Phone Companies

The cell phone business is anathema to me. On one hand, they spend fortunes in advertising to attract new customers only to treat customers with disdain once they are signed up.

Let me share an example — if a cell phone company touts its superb service, why would it feel compelled to charge a disgruntled customer upwards of $200 to terminate a contract early?

Take Sprint, for example. If you change anything about a Sprint cell phone plan, it automatically extends the contract term, and that early termination penalty continues to loom. The others are pretty much the same.

Cell phone company marketing people have demonstrated they are cut from the same cloth as old-fashioned used car salesmen but it strikes me that when a cell phone company finally reaches a point where it legitimately offers great service, then there are marketing advantages to promoting no early termination penalties. Maybe, though, this concept is just too sophisticated for them to figure out.