14 DAY TRIAL // If you want to get out of a contract signed with a mobile operator, you'd better hope your handset breaks. Why? The Illinois House has passed a cellphone lemon law, a measure that will allow consumers with defective handsets to break wireless service contracts.
According to the new law, subscribers whose phones must be repaired or replaced for three times or more can cancel their service contracts without having to pay the early termination fees, usually ranging between $150 and $200. The House bill that was approved by a 72 to 43 margin is now heading to the Senate for consideration.
"When someone buys a cellphone that turns out to be defective, they have to go back to the provider for a repair or replacement," said Rep. Susana Mendoza, a Democrat who represents Chicago. "When this happens repeatedly, it burdens customers both in terms of time and money lost, but also with increased frustration. Cellular providers have an insufficient incentive to be responsive because the consumer is usually locked into a long-term contract."
As Mendoza explains, mobile phones are the only means of communication for several people and keeping them with faulty equipment, locked into a contract is unfair. Under the new law, consumers will also be able to upgrade or downgrade their phone model by paying or being refunded the difference in cost, based on promotional prices, depending on the case.
An amendment to the bill was approved to strike language that would have required the operator to pay its customer with $25 per each day when the handset would not work. The mobile phone industry, on the other hand, believes that the Mendoza legislation is unnecessary.