Cellphone providers force customers to ride out contracts by means of exorbitant cancellation penalties and full contract payout. However, experts say demanding subscription charges to the end of the contract term, should be considered legally unreasonable.

This is what was discovered during an investigation into the costs of bowing out of agreements with mobile service providers. After a tip-off from a reader, who was recently asked to pay nearly R10 000 to be released from an Altech Autopage Vodacom contract, we contacted the call centres of MTN, Cell C, Vodacom, Virgin Mobile, Nashua Mobile and Altech Autopage Cellular, using the names and details of real subscribers. We also contacted these companies' spokesmen for further explanation on cancellation charges.

The investigation found Altech Autopage Cellular's contract to be the most expensive to exit. At least two customers were quoted almost R10 000 to cancel contracts with just over a year left on subscription. It would cost one customer R9 976.88 to exit a Vodacom Talk 130 contract that had 14 months outstanding. Autopage would not comment on the matter and could not provide a breakdown of the costs involved in either subscriber's situation. However, the total figure in both cases amounts to almost double the amount the subscriber would pay if they took the contract to term.