Eileen and I were at Valley Fair today doing a little shopping and we swung by the T-Mobile corporate store to check out the phones because she was contemplating leaving SprintPCS. We looked at the Samsung X105 and E105, they are awesome phones, especially the E105. After some discussion we decided to go ahead with getting the phone and changing my plan to the FamilyTime Basic plan and adding her as a line. We figured that since the SprintPCS agreement ("contract") ends this Wednesday (October 22, 2003) we'd go ahead and activate a T-Mobile phone and change my plan accordingly. We picked up the Samsung E105 which is a very cool phone. It has a color screen, 40-chord ringtone capability, and all sorts of other stuff. The thing kicks ass. The sales guy, Gary was very helpful in answering all our questions and explained things very well. He actually made the whole switching from regular account to FamilyTime account sound not as scary as I thought it was. So, we got the phone, we got the plan, and it was time to have some dinner then I could call SprintPCS and get sweet closure by closing that account. But, it was not as I had expected. When we got home Eileen start to play with her new phone while I called SprintPCS. The billing cycle for the account starts on the 22nd of every month. The contract ends on the 24th, therefore the contract doesn't end till two days into the next billing cycle. Does SprintPCS do this on purpose so that they can rope a customer into staying one more month? I don't know, but it feels a bit suspicious to me. The customer service rep (CSR) on the phone heard that I was going to leave SprintPCS and offered me this retention plan (don't laugh too hard): $10/mo for 50 minutes to keep the phone active as an "emergency phone." Oh please. I told her no and I had already signed up for a different carrier (I did not go as far as to tell her that SprintPCS sucks, which they do). She told me, in an icy calm way, "Well we cannot stop your service this 22nd because your agreement is not fulfilled until the 24th." So, what does that exactly mean? She told me that if I stop service this 22nd then I would be hit with a $150 early termination fee. Oh. So what to do? She tells me that I'll have to stick through one more cycle and have the service stopped on November 24, 2003. Fine, anything to get away from SprintPCS. We'll use up the minutes in November and be done with SprintPCS forever. Five years with this company, five years with that phone number, and that's all they can do to try to retain a customer. Fine. We are leaving for a better carrier and we'll let everyone we know that SprintPCS is not the place to go for service. At one time, about three years ago, SprintPCS really did care for their customers and I did recommend the service. But at this point, I don't think that they care about their customers anymore and if they were the last carrier on Earth, I would stick with my landline rather than sign up with them. SprintPCS can kiss our butts, you'll never get business from us again. For those of you signing up or moving carriers, think twice about signing up with SprintPCS. If you need good roaming coverage, go with Verizon. If you need a good plan, good price, and good customer care, then go with T-Mobile as my fiancee and I have. SprintPCS is just not worth it. I cannot wait till November 22, 2003 when I don't have to deal with them anymore.