contracts posts

In a move similar to how car insurance carriers offer price comparison service for potential customers, T-Mobile has teamed up with BillShrink to give your cell phone bill a makeover.

If you watched the American Idol Finale last night you may have caught Catherine Zeta Jones offering to help a wireless customer find the best cell phone plan using BillShrink, after Ivy League-educated economists fail. With an estimated 8 out of 10 cell phone users overpaying for service, the mobile phone makeovers are well worth the few minutes it takes to check the cost of your monthly bill. While this is a T-Mobile promotion, anyone, on any carrier, can get a Mobile Makeover with BillShrink.

This is a pretty bold move by T-Mobile, given the varied pricing and nature of an industry that has given birth to the mocking commercials of Alltel and the braggadocio of Verizon's "It's the Network" pitches. To my recollection, this is the first time a carrier has told customers to go to an independent third party and find out who can offer you the best deal. There will even be kiosks available in T-Mobile stores to assist customers in checking their price.

After exploring BillShrink, I can confidently say that even with this promotion, it doesn't recommend T-Mobile or any other carrier ahead of the one that suits you best. It keeps the comparisons clean and makes it easy to see what you would save on by switching plans or carriers; or in my case, congratulating me for choosing the best plan for my usage and location.

Broadway's miseries have spilled over to the fishing industry.

Jeremy Piven, the cocky little actor who made his name playing cocky little agent Ari Gold on HBO's Entourage, has bailed on his role in a revival of David Mamet's Speed-the-Plow, sending producers of the three-man play into a tizzy of re-casting so it can complete its run as scheduled on February 22.

Piven's doctor, Dr. Carlon M. Colker, blamed the reported toxicity of Piven's blood on his consumption of sushi and Chinese herbs. Naturally, the doctor doesn't really know for sure what's behind Piven's malady, but the nigiri gets the rap in the press anyway.

Fine. Blame the fish. They can't really defend themselves, and sushi's reputation was wrecked after the New York Times declared there were dangerous levels of mercury in bluefin tuna. Most other varieties of sushi, even other types of tuna, were not reported to be much of an issue, but the bad rap for raw fish appears to be sticking.

But for all those fans of raw fish, the Center for Consumer Freedom has an interesting tidbit to point out: If the story is true, then Piven would be the first documented case of someone getting mercury poisoning from sushi sold in American restaurants or grocery stores. It doesn't happen.

If you write for a living, then you know only too well, that proper spelling, grammar and punctuation are essential to your craft. If you write for work or business purposes, then you know that accuracy in writing is a critical part of your skill set.

Through your school years, your teachers must have tried to impress upon you the importance of proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation in your written work. What they probably didn't provide you with however, was a body of evidence to support their assertions. Few writing instructors actually provide examples of how one small word, or the placement of a comma, can cost hundreds, thousands, or even multi-millions of dollars.

An example of the tremendous power of one word, can be drawn from my own experience. It occurred deep within the text of a final divorce decree which I signed. The original document, which arrived from my former spouse's attorney, had a sentence in it which declared that I agreed to pay, "...all debts incurred by her..." Knowing that was not what we had agreed upon, I simply struck out the word -her- and inserted the word -him. As near as I can figure it, changing that one word saved me at least $11,000.

It happens all the time. One Comcast customer was dumped for using too much web service on a plan he purchased because it was "unlimited." The company told him the word referred to the fact he could be on his computer as much as he wanted, not that he could view as many pages and videos as he wanted. And then Comcast tried selling him a more expensive plan. Infuriated, he fought back, launching a fiery blog and a cutting YouTube protest to tell the world he'd been ripped off. And a consumer advocate was born.

In July, Sprint put a cap on its previously "unlimited" data card usage, following Verizon and AT&T. Now, 5 gigabytes is all you get unless you want corporate monkeys to shut off your supply. Americans aren't the only ones to suffer the bait-and-switch defended by dense legalese and bent logic in the Terms of Service contract: U.K.'s Vodafone puts similar caps on its "unlimited" mobile phone plan, as does Canada's TELUS.

Cell phone contracts often lock up the user tighter than Alcatraz, and the cost to escape is just as costly, with the lowest termination fees still coming in over $150.

Thankfully if you want to get out of your current cell phone plan without paying out the nose, you can sell your cell phone contract via Cellswapper.com. The service connects you with people who want to pick up a short term contract on the cheap, allowing you to sign up for a new iPhone or a plan that better fits your calling habits.

The cost to sell your contract begins at $18.95 for the basic sale package, where your phone will be listed until the contract is purchased. Once you have made a sale, you simply have to ring up your current provider and initiate a transfer process, which typically takes 2-3 days. If you are switching to another provider you can even keep your phone number. You can also get 25% of your selling fee refunded if you purchase your next phone contract from Cellswapper.com.

I'm always impressed with the businesses that pop up to deal with the shortcomings of the current marketplace. I still wish you could purchase an affordable phone without making a commitment that lasts longer than many marriages these days. Of course if you're selling your current contract to purchase a new iPhone, make sure you check out the new iPhone pricing plans!