Cancelling a T-Mobile phone contract

Since Scogs doesn't need his mobile any more I have to cancel the contract, which is in my name. So I spent an hour or so on T-Mobile's site looking for a simple button saying "Vertragskündigung". Forget it, there is no button, no form, no simple solution. You have to call customer service (I don't recall where I finally found the number, somewhere well hidden). So I call them.

Me: Can I cancel a contract online?
T-mobile guy: No. Hmm, I see you have this and that rate with such and such partner card. We have a special offer at the moment ...
Me: I don't want to change my rate, I want to cancel.
TMG: Oh, you have to do that in writing. What's your e-mail address, I'll send you the form.
Me: You mean I can't download it?
TMG: Nope, you have to contact customer service for every cancellation. Why do you want to cancel?
Me (beginning to get pissed off): Because I don't need the service any more.
TMG: Why not? What's your reason for canceling the contract?
Me: Why should I give a reason? It's enough that I want to cancel it.
TMG: There must be a reason.
Me: Because the guy who used the *colorful word* phone is *expletive* dead and I don't need the service any more.
TMG: Oh. Sorry to hear that.
Me: Ok, send the form to (so and so e-mail). What about the partner card?
TMG: You have to cancel that separately.
Me: What? The partner card is only valid in combination with the main contract. Why should I have to cancel it separately if you can't debit my account for the partner card charges without the valid main contract?
TMG: It's a separate contract, you have to cancel it separately. Why ...
Me: Don't ask me why I'm canceling the partner card. Because I want to.

So I get the form, and damned if it doesn't say, right there: I am canceling this contract at the next possible point in time because (and it gives you about 200 spaces to fill in)

15 spaces including empty spaces and a period: ich es so will.

When canceling T-Mobile, feel free to use your imagination in giving them your reason for doing so.

that really sucks, and im sorry but take a look through youtube for AOL cancellation...

ie watch this... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_knvtpENoQ

hopefully this might make you feel lucky

which, depending on your contract, might be months away unless you have a good reason (and I think demise of the phone user is one of the better and more unassailable reasons to have grounds for cancellation)

This is pretty standard for German contracts. You can only cancel them three months before they expire and only in writing. Most Germans wouldn't expect to download a form, they would just write a letter. It's the way everything works here.

Expiration of the user would normally be a reason to cancel the contract, but it's in your name you're not dead.

The "at the next possible point in time" means the legal end of the contract, if you've cancelled it three months or more before it ends.

True, but the partner who had the partner card is. (Weak argument though...)

Their phrasing, not mine.
I was the main contract, Cat is the partner card. Just to get the facts straight.

Now to go for Scogs' internet provider who have already received his death certificate and the termination and still want to debit my account with the August fees ...

It's not just their phrasing, it's totally normal phrasing in Germany. Germans use it regularly. It means -- my contract ends at the next LEGAL time. Be careful here. If you are in the last month of the contract, you haven't canceled on time and it means that the contract then expires in two years and one month.

Sorry to bang on about this but I really resent when people get all hot under the collar because Germans don't provide the service your used to or expect -- canceling a contract is a very routine thing in Germany and everyone understands how it works. The reason you're having difficulty is because you don't.

@KäptnKnitterbart

I suspect you're the one who doesn't understand. But you're new here, with only 209 posts. When you reach 13,763 posts and become a moderator like Sarabyrd, then perhaps folks will take you more seriously

Meanwhile, the way that German business is done here on a regular basis would be unethical, immoral or even illegal in many other places. When you've spent most of your life somewhere else, your gut reaction is to cry foul. Because it is.

Don't worry, KK, the contract still has 6 months to run.
I am just pissed off with their wanting a frigging reason. Next time I'll tell them that I don't like the color magenta or that their website is crap.

I had a similar experience with Vodafone. Having canceled the main contract, I was surprised to learn that the partner card was 'promoted' to an independent contract and had to be canceled separately, of course running for another year. IMO one should send in the notice to cancel as soon as a new contract is signed. You can always take back your notice if you want to continue with the contract later on.

T-Mobile probably isn't any worse than other companies in Germany. Most of them are cunts when it comes to terminating contracts.

I had one contract with an ISP that I neglected to cancel before it automatically renewed itself for another year. Luckily it wasn't long before I left, and they let me off when I sent in my Abmeldebestätigung.

Not just Germany - I know a certain British Telecommunications company that upon hearing that their customer had died, required his signature before they would consider cancelling the contract.

These guys are the bulldog type: I have now received a letter in the mail with further offers, a panegyric about how great T-Mobile is and a renewed request for a reason for cancelling the contract. Which part of "Weil ich es so will" did they not understand? I am sure that most of you out there get the meaning of the phrase, and these guys are German!