Contracts

Who else here thinks Corporate America is screwing them over? Can I get a show of hands?

I'm tired of companies that lock you into a contract to keep your business. It goes against our society's long-held belief that competition spurs innovation and drives down costs. Today, if you want a cell phone you're more than likely going to be locked into a two-year contract. You can get a cell phone sans contract, but then your per-minute cost is much higher than if you signed a contract, and it will cost you even more in the long run. Corporate America has gotten lazy and rather than innovate, they just lock you into a contract so they can innovate at their own artifically slow pace. It used to be such that if you didn't like a company, you could run to the competitor, but not anymore. If you don't like what company A has to offer, company B has a similiar set of offerings and the same type of contract, so you're not really changing anything at all. Consumers have fewer choices today than they should. Does Congress do anything about it? Are you kidding?

I have some friends who are moving from an apartment to a house. SBC says they can move their service, but they have to pay a re-connect fee, and their DSL contract starts over if they do. Now, if they decide to cancel the service, they are required to pay around $200 to break the DSL contract, since the contract isn't up for a while. That's outrageous. Talk about being between a rock and a hard place.

Here's a shocking idea. I bet you that if a company were to provide a decent service and treat it's customers like customers instead of revenue streams, it would probably do pretty well for itself.